MSF says it is stepping up efforts to reduce malaria cases in the Abyei Administrative Area which has a dramatic increase.

It says since August, it has treated 19,411 people in villages in the area, an average of around 1,800 people per week.

In a report, MSF says there are few health facilities the area and people with severe malaria often end up dying quiet deaths in their villages.

It says it is working with local communities to put an end to preventable illness and deaths.

The medical charity group has set up a network of 37 ‘malaria agents’, supervised by six community health workers.

It diagnoses and treats malaria in 23 villages within a 30-km radius of the town of Agok.