SIERRA LEONE: Cholera deaths surge
Pastor Dale Morgan
SIERRA LEONE: Cholera deaths surge*
03 Oct 2007 18:33:56 GMT
Source: IRIN
FREETOWN, 3 October 2007 (IRIN) - A deadly cholera epidemic has broken
out in several regions of Sierra Leone.
Since the first week of September at least 523 people have been infected
in Kambia district in northern Sierra Leone close to the border with
Guinea, and in the eastern town of Kenema, and Newton on the outskirts
of the capital Freetown, according to the Ministry of Health.
Cholera can be easily treated with a course of dehydration and local
government authorities have been using FM radio to appeal to people to
report cases of diarrhoea and vomiting to the nearest health centre.
"We have the personnel and enough drugs to quickly and professionally
intervene," The Kambia District medical officer Joseph Kandeh told IRIN.
Nonetheless, 30 people died from the disease in September, the Ministry
said.
The district medical officer for Kenema, Yankuba Bah, said that people
are reluctant to seek treatment when they get sick as they do not have
confidence in public hospitals. "Most patients only visit government
hospitals when they are in a precarious condition," he said.
Bah also said that most of the people infected are women. They are more
exposed to the disease, he said, because they fetch water from streams
and work in crowded markets.
Cholera and other waterborne diseases occur each year during the rainy
season as heavy rains lead to the contamination of streams and wells
from uncollected garbage and effluent. Last year, 2,560 cholera cases
were recorded in Sierra Leone during the rainy season between August and
October, with 77 deaths.
Less than 50 percent of people outside Freetown have access to clean
water and toilets, according to the UN, and most depend on streams and
rainfall for their drinking water.