AFRICA/SOMALIA - Warning of a suspected outbreak of cholera that has already made many victims

Mogadishu (Agenzia Fides) - A suspected outbreak of cholera has already killed several people in the southern Somali village of Hoosingo, Badade district in Lower Juba region. The alert launched by the government and health officials is due to the fact that one is still unable to trace the type of pandemic. As a preventative measure schools, madrasas and restaurants were closed. Since September 5, at least 19 people were killed and 12 others were infected. Medicines, the identification of the disease and the creation of health centers are urgently needed. There are no hospitals nor health centers for maternal and child care, or other health care facilities, there are only tents where patients are hospitalized. According to a recent medical report released by the World Health Organization, between 5 and 13 September 12 deaths and 107 cases of this disease were recorded in Somalia, most of them children under five years of age. There are no sufficient medicines and the village of Hoosingo is in a remote area, without any medical facility, 100km from the town of Liboi, which marks the border Kenya-Somalia. Other suspected cases have been reported in Waraq, 70km from Liboi. These two areas are transit to Kenya, so there is risk of trans-border transmission.
Insecurity in some parts of Lower Juba region has made some areas inaccessible. With the ongoing conflict, the displacement of populations and the subsequent closure of the points of access to health services in the region, the risk of sporadic outbreaks of cholera in the south cannot be excluded. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 19/09/2012)