The unsung heroes

A South Sudanese surgeon, Evan Atar Adaha - a 52-year-old doctor who runs the only hospital in northeastern Maban county - was given the 2018 Nansen Refugee Award for his "humanity and selflessness" where he often risked his safety to serve others, the U.N. said.

"  I hope this award can help draw attention to the plight of refugees especially here in Africa where they are often forgotten about," Adaha told the Thomson Reuters Foundation . "You may hear and read about them, but it's only when you are face-to-face with people who have left everything and are sick with malaria, or are malnourished, or have a bullet wound that you realise how desperate the need for help is." 

At least 50,000 people have been killed and one in three South Sudanese have been uprooted from their homes. The country also hosts around 300,000 refugees fleeing violence in neighbouring Sudan, according to the U.N.

Dr Atar, has been running Maban hospital - which was once an abandoned health clinic - in the northeastern town of Bunj since 2011. When he first arrived, he said there was no operating theatre and he had to stack tables to create a work area. Over the years, he has transformed the hospital and created a maternity ward and nutrition centre, as well as training young people as nurses and midwives.The 120-bed hospital now serves around 200,000 people living in Maban county - 70 percent of whom are refugees from Sudan - and conducts about 60 operations weekly but under very difficult circumstances. Adaha said the only x-ray machine is broken, the operating theatre has only one light, and electricity is provided by generators that often break down. Although the hospital receives support from UNHCR, Adaha said a lack of funds remains his biggest challenge to treating everyone who needs help.

"In the hospital, we will treat anyone. It doesn't matter if you are a rebel, government soldier, refugee or a local person. We have pregnant women, malnourished children and even people who are wounded by bullets," Adaha said. "The one rule we have is that no weapons are allowed in the hospital. If you bring a weapon, then we will not treat you. Sometimes it is difficult, but most people now agree."