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Tabarak Allah hospital - Gedaref, Sudan
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Kala azar, or visceral leishmaniasis, is the second deadliest parasitic disease in the world – only malaria kills more people.

A neglected tropical disease, kala azar is caused by a parasite, spread to humans through the bite of infected female sand flies. It attacks the immune system and is almost always fatal if not treated.

Also known as visceral leishmaniasis, kala azar is the most serious form of leishmaniasis and is endemic in 76 countries, with hundreds of millions at risk of infection. There are between 50,000 and 90,000 new cases a year, about 90 per cent of which occur in Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan. Between 1989 and 2020, MSF teams treated nearly 150,000 people for kala azar; over a third in South Sudan.

Diagnosis and treatment of the disease, especially of the variety found in eastern Africa, can be complex and painful.

 
DNDi

DNDi diseases focus

Project Update 3 Jul 2003
 
Kala azar

Drugs for neglected diseases

Project Update 1 Jul 2003
 
South Sudan

Health organisation warns that kala-azar has returned to South Sudan

Project Update 23 Nov 2002
 
Sudan

Deadly kala azar threatens thousands in exhausted southern Sudan

Press Release 8 Nov 2002
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MSF Field Research

We produce important research based on our field experience. So far, we have published articles in over 100 peer-reviewed journals. These articles have often changed clinical practice and have been used for humanitarian advocacy. All of these articles can be found on our dedicated Field Research website.

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