Fears are mounting that a cholera epidemic could spread rapidly among the hundreds of thousands of people living in often unsanitary conditions in Mogadishu after fleeing drought, famine and insecurity.
“The number of cases is two or even three times what was there last year so we can say that we have an epidemic of cholera going on,” said Michel Yao, public health adviser at the World Health Organization (WHO).
In Mogadishu’s largest health facility, Banadir Hospital, 4,272 cases of acute watery diarrhoea, a symptom of cholera, have been recorded so far this year, causing 181 deaths. (Random laboratory tests showed that 60 percent of the cases also tested positive for malaria, according to WHO.)
Children under five, weakened by malnutrition, make up three-fourths of the cases. Of the total cases, 1,633 were reported in June and July.
WHO spokesman Tarek Jasarevic said: “This sudden increase had various reasons. First, the numerous informal settlements of internally displaced persons with makeshift shelters, poor sanitation and limited access to safe water. Second, the limited capacity of existing health partners to access those informal settlements and provide essential health services. And third, the high number of malnourished children due to the ongoing famine increased the susceptibility to waterborne diseases such as acute watery diarrhoea.”
Source: IRIN
