A CMAP, Agok, near Abyei

The medical charity, MSF, says it is setting up community advanced malaria posts or (CMAP) in Abyei Area during the rainy season to prevent the endemic disease.

In many villages, MSF says it is difficult to reach the hospital during the rainy season.

People would have to carry a patient on a blanket or a sheet and walk for several hours.

“With those posts in remote areas, patients have access to test and treatment for simple malaria in their community rather than having to walk for hours to reach the hospital,” it said in a statement issued Tuesday.

This strategy, it says, aims at reducing the number of patients with severe malaria that come to the hospital.

CMAP is also meant to quickly detect the disease in remote communities and treat malaria as soon as possible.

This year, 22 villages will be part of this special program aimed at reducing the morbidity of severe malaria in the area around Agok town.

More than 76 percent of disease-related deaths in South Sudan since the beginning of the year are of malaria, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

It said more than 928,000 cases of malaria, including almost 2,000 deaths were recorded since January.

OCHA said malaria had returned as a main cause of illness in the country with the arrival of the rainy season.

MSF added that it’s also providing training to the volunteers to be able to recognize malaria, perform the test, treat the simple cases and refer the complicated cases timely.