SOMALIA: Cholera kills 82 in central region
Pastor Dale Morgan
*SOMALIA: Cholera kills 82 in central region*
05 Feb 2007 12:46:07 GMT
Source: IRIN
NAIROBI, 5 February (IRIN) - At least 82 people have died in the past 10
days following an outbreak of cholera in the towns of Beletweyne, Buulo
Burte and Jalalaqsi in the Hiiraan region of central Somalia, medical
sources said on Monday.
"At least 82 people, 50 of them children, have died of cholera in the
three districts," said Hassan Odawa, programme manager for the
International Medical Corps (IMC) in Beletweyne, the regional capital of
Hiiraan.
Cholera treatment centres, he added, were set up on 3 February in the
affected districts by agencies dealing with the outbreak, and by the
Cholera Task Force for the region, of which the IMC is the lead agency.
The outbreak was confirmed following tests carried out by AMREF in the
Kenyan capital, Nairobi. "We have had 110 cases in the three districts
since last week," Odawa said. "In Beletweyne, 15 cases, with two deaths.
In Buulo Burte we had 38 cases with one death. In Jalalaqsi we had 57
cases with 12 fatalities."
He said at least 1,229 cases have been recorded, with 150 deaths since
the outbreak on 5 January, of "what was thought at the time to be watery
diarrhoea".
Odawa blamed the outbreak on recent floods that devastated the region
and contaminated water drawn from wells. "We suspect the problem is the
water people are drinking," he said. "The floods destroyed many wells
and latrines, allowing sewage into wells."
The floods, mostly in late 2006, displaced tens of thousands of people
in the region, with large tracts of farmland submerged.
"We have started chlorinating the wells in all the districts but,
unfortunately, we are having difficulty in accessing some of the remote
villages due to lack of transport," Odawa said.
At the moment, he added, there were enough oral rehydration salts: "But
if the situation does not stabilise soon we will need to get more
resources to contain the outbreak."
Jalalaqsi was the worst-affected area with villagers around the town
unable to bring their sick to the treatment centre, according to Ahmed
Abdulle Gure of the Somali Red Crescent Society, whose agency is running
the town's treatment centre.
"We have been told of villagers dying in their villages because of lack
of transportation and other logistical problems," Gure said, adding that
the situation was improving in places like Beletweyne.
ah/jm