SENEGAL: Calls for more prevention as cholera cases rapidly spread
Pastor Dale Morgan
*SENEGAL: Calls for more prevention as cholera cases rapidly spread*
22 Oct 2007 18:33:23 GMT
Source: IRIN
DAKAR, 22 October 2007 (IRIN) - As the number of cholera cases in
Senegal this year tops 2,000, Red Cross and UN officials say not enough
has changed since a huge epidemic two years ago that affected more than
30,000 people and killed 450.
According to the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), 12
deaths and 2,231 cases of cholera have been registered since the
beginning of August in six regions of the country.
"Every day, we're getting new cases. Before, it was one or two cases a
day. Now, it's 60 or 70. It's alarming," said Mamadou Sonko, head of
operations for the Senegalese Red Cross.
Cholera is a highly contagious intestinal infection that is transmitted
through contaminated water or food. It leads to acute diarrhoea and
often vomiting; if untreated it can kill within days.
Last week, the IFRC launched an appeal for 40,000 Swiss francs
(US$34,000) to support the emergency operations of the Senegalese Red
Cross. The appeal has been completely funded, and operations will begin
within days, Sonko said.
The Red Cross will train 240 volunteers who will lead awareness
activities in different communities. It will also distribute
disinfectant, anti-microbial soap, bowls, buckets and measuring cups to
families in Diourbel, Dakar, Louga, Saint Louis, Fatick and Kaolack,
where cases have emerged.
Floods and movement
According to Aissa Fall Gueye, IFRC's regional health manager for Sahel
countries, cholera cases appeared only sporadically and were easily
contained until the rainy season began in July and flood waters began
pouring down on Senegal and other West African nations.
"It's during that period that we saw a big peak," Gueye said. "The rainy
season certainly had an impact."
The movement of people across cities and regions was another important
factor. Sonko said the first cases of cholera appeared in Touba, the
religious centre of the country.
One week after it rained in Touba, and sewer waters overflowed onto the
streets, a large religious gathering took place in Saint Louis, on the
north-eastern coast hundreds of kilometres away. "Within three days, the
first cases appeared in Saint Louis."
Lessons learned?
Water and sanitation experts say progress in good hygiene and sanitation
– the basis of preventing water-borne diseases like cholera – has been
too slow.
The behaviour that leads to cholera – irregular hand washing, improper
preparation of food, bad hygiene – has not significantly improved,
Claire-Lise Chaignat, head of the Global Task Force on Cholera Control
at the World Health Organization (WHO), told IRIN in August, when
flooding had begun in various parts of West Africa.
"All the ingredients for an epidemic still exist," she said. "Vulnerable
populations are in fact increasing over time," as rural people move to
the cities in search of a better life but end up in shanty towns where
hygienic conditions are poor.
"If we want to eliminate cholera, we need to improve the prevention
approach."
The Red Cross' Sonko said Senegal has made some improvements. In a
country where people used to regularly defecate in the outdoors,
latrines are now available even in the smallest villages.
Still, he agreed it is time to place focus on prevention, and the Red
Cross has drafted a regional cholera prevention strategy for 2008.
"It's important to learn lessons," the IFRC's Gueye said. "We are
convinced that we can't wait for an epidemic to begin in order to react.
It's only through awareness and changing behaviours that we can prevent
the recurrence of these cases in such a cyclical manner."
In 2005, a cholera epidemic killed 1,295 people of 76,881 cases in West
Africa, according to the WHO, more than a third of them in Senegal. This
year, cholera has already killed 262 people in Guinea and 30 in Sierra
Leone. Cases have also been recorded in Ghana.
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