A cholera outbreak in southern Sudan has killed 127 people among
5,634 cases in the past month and the water-borne disease is
spreading, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.
In a statement received in Nairobi, the UN health agency said
all reported cases are concentrated in the town of Yei, which
borders Uganda, and the vast region's main city of Juba of southern
Sudan.
WHO said the two towns have been hit hardest by the epidemic,
which has been spreading to surrounding areas.
"The Sudanese health authorities in collaboration with WHO and
other partners reported a total number of 5,634 cases and 127
deaths from acute watery diarrhea in southern Sudan," WHO said in a
statement.
Cholera, an acute intestinal infection spread by contaminated
water or food, causes vomiting and acute diarrhoea that can lead to
dehydration and death within 24 hours.
It is a highly contagious and potentially fatal disease that
thrives in places with poor hygiene and inadequate water
supplies.
It is generally caused by using dirty water for drinking and
cooking.
WHO and other aid agencies are helping Sudanese authorities by
providing antibiotics and chlorination tablets.
"Control measures being implemented include strengthening the
surveillance and reporting system, standardizing case management
and promoting health education and hygiene, with the chlorination
of public water supplies," the statement said.
The UN agencies have mounted a broad effort in Yei to enhance
access to clean water and sanitation as well as launch public
awareness campaigns about the importance of good hygiene and clean
water which include house-to-house visits, it said.
The population of Southern Sudan's towns is swelling due to the
return of displaced people and refugees, and increased economic
activity.
Southern Sudan remains largely underdeveloped after 21 years of
civil war between the former rebels of the southern Sudan People's
Liberation Movement/Army and the Khartoum-based government.
The war, which ended with the signing of a peace deal in January
2005, killed at least two million people, uprooted four million
more and forced some 550,000 to flee to neighboring countries.
(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2006)
