Cholera Upsurge Kills More Children in the Sahel
As the rainy season unfolds across the Sahel, a recent upsurge of cholera that has killed over 60 people and sickened about 2,800 this year is putting more and more people – especially malnourished children – at risk, UNICEF warned today.
(PRWEB) July 13, 2012
As the rainy season unfolds across the Sahel, a recent upsurge of cholera that has killed over 60 people and sickened about 2,800 this year is putting more and more people – especially malnourished children – at risk, UNICEF warned today.
Last week, an outbreak in Northern Mali left two children dead and 34 other people sick, including a growing number of children, according to Mali’s Ministry of Health. So far in 2012, cholera has killed nearly 700 people in West and Central Africa and more than 29,000 cases have been reported.
Since mid-June, the number of people affected by the deadly highly infectious water-borne disease has shot up in the Sahel, especially in Niger’s regions bordering the Niger River, where nearly three times as many cholera patients have presented over the first half of 2012 compared to the same period last year.
Niger is home to about 400,000 children who are expected to require life-saving treatment for severe malnutrition this year.
Cholera is a recurrent threat throughout the Sahel. Last year, over 67,000 cholera cases were reported mainly around the Lake Chad Basin countries (Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria), with 2,153 deaths and an average case fatality rate of 3.2 per cent.
But this year, the outbreaks appear to be concentrated further to the west around Niger and Mali, where its impact is aggravated by massive displacement of people fleeing the conflict in northern Mali and puts more strain on the children already affected by an acute nutrition crisis.
While cholera cases appeared
Category: Health
