WEST AFRICA: Cholera cases up 40 percent across West Africa: WHO

Photo: IRIN

DAKAR, 26 September 2005 (IRIN) - Cholera cases have shot up by about 40 percent overall across West Africa in the past month as unusually heavy rains help spread the waterborne disease, the UN World Health Organisation says. As of 23 September, cholera had killed at least 759 people in eight countries in the region so far this year, compared with a toll of 517 deaths late last month. And the total number of registered cases according to a tally of WHO data stood at least at 43,638 compared to 31,259 the previous month. The infectious disease, which causes severe diarrhoea and vomiting and can kill in 24 hours, hits the region each rainy season. But this year’s heavy downpours have driven up infection rates. The eight countries listed by WHO in its latest cholera update are Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal. The agency offered no overall cumulative figure as not all the national statistics are equally up to date. While the epidemic has been particularly bad in Guinea-Bissau and Senegal for several weeks, Mauritania registered 55 deaths as of last week compared to 10 reported in late August as cases rose fivefold from 497 to 2,640, according to the WHO. Emilio Mashant, cholera coordinator with Medecins Sans Frontieres-Belgium, said from Nouakchott that while cholera is cyclical, authorities and populations do not sufficiently address potential causes such as improving water supplies and providing information on hygiene. “It is a question of indifference - on the part of everyone, including affected populations,” he told IRIN. The WHO’s top cholera expert agrees that not enough attention is given to the deadly disease until a crisis is looming. “With cholera we’re always running after fires. Instead of extinguishing the fire, we have to prevent it,” Claire-Lise Chaignat said from Geneva on Monday. This means that year after year communities are caught unprepared when the rains come although it is common knowledge that it is difficult to control the spread of cholera once it breaks out. In West Africa, Guinea Bissau remains the hardest hit country, with about 270 deaths for over 15,500 cases as of last week in the country of 1.3 million, according to the health ministry. The government is seeking 1.2 million euros (US $1.44 million) for medicines and means to improve sanitation. The Liberian capital, Monrovia, is currently seeing about 100 cases per week and it is not clear whether the worst is past, Stephan Goetghebuer, West Africa coordinator for MSF-Belgium, told IRIN from Monrovia. In Monrovia, where 14 years of war destroyed basic infrastructure, a safe water distribution system has yet to be re-established two years after the end of conflict, Goetghebuer said. “The state of the water distribution system in Monrovia is a shame,” he said, noting that the population was forced to rely on sources such as unprotected wells for drinking water. NGOs currently are running a prevention campaign, including a song on the radio about hand-washing and basic hygiene. “When there’s an outbreak people look and say, ‘Wow, we’d better do something,’” Goetghebuer said.