Cholera continues to rage. While one August, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that half a million people had been affected by the disease in Yemen, it is today in Nigeria that cholera is progressing. It has thus killed 14 people and the number of suspected cases stands at 186, according to a press release from the Borno State Ministry of Health relayed by theAFP.
Sanitation measures put in place
The victims are in Muna Garage or near this camp for displaced people who fled the violence of Boko Haram, located on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno. To deal with the epidemic, health authorities and NGOs have implemented sanitation measures such as water purification or the installation of additional latrines. Awareness campaigns have also been launched. The humanitarian association Médecins sans frontières, which set up a treatment center in Dala, revealed its desire to add 50 beds and is exploring the possibility of opening another treatment center closer to the most affected areas.
The spread of cholera is due in particular to the fact that in Maiduguri, the number of inhabitants has doubled since the beginning of the conflict: they are now more than two million and many are crammed into the camps “victims of food insecurity and diseases such as malaria,” AFP said. The humanitarian association Médecins sans frontières also reports that “after heavy rains, the camp is partly flooded, which constitutes an additional risk factor during a cholera epidemic”.
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