AFRICA/SOUTH SUDAN - Cholera alarm: "at least 300 suspected cases in a vast and impoverished area" says Cuamm

Monday, 20 February 2017

Medici con l’Africa Cuamm

Juba (Agenzia Fides) - There are about 300 suspected cases of cholera which were recorded in February in the counties of Yirol East and Awerial, but the number is expected to grow because "the stories of those who arrive at the health centers from villages further away are alarming". This is what a statement sent to Agenzia Fides by Doctors with Africa Cuamm report. The data reported come from the counties of Yirol East and Awerial (ex Lakes State) where Cuamm works and coordinates the activities of 16 health centers. This is an area that has many complexities, from the difficulties to reach the communities that live scattered along the Nile and far from health centers, to the problem of offering adequate services to a population that, since December 2013, has grown under the influx of thousands of displaced.
"We have not yet an official confirmation that this is cholera, but we think it is very likely", says Giovanni Dall'Oglio, responsible for the operation of Cuamm in the area. In November 2016, the intervention of Cuamm in the former Lakes State extended to all 8 counties (including those affected by the epidemic of cholera), supporting three hospitals and 90 peripheral health centers, in favor of a population of just under 1 million inhabitants, about 250,000 children under five years of age and 58,000 pregnant women. It is a huge area which also includes the banks of the Nile and its islands, these area do not have any kind of health center. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 20/02/2017)


Share: