“25,170 cases of cholera including 857 deaths” have been reported since the beginning of the year in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to statistics published by the local office of the World Health Organization.
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The cholera epidemic in 2018 is characterized by a reactivation of cases in the old homes of 2017 but also the resurgence of new homes in the different provinces.
The most affected populations are those who live in “the health zones around large rivers, in areas with a deficit in the drinking water supply system for the populations and with sanitation problems”, notes WHO.
At least one case of cholera has been reported in 21 of the country’s 26 provinces. The provinces most affected by the resurgence of the disease are those of Kasaï Oriental, Lomami (center), Sud-Kivu, Tanganyika, Haut-Katanga (Est).
Over the whole of last year, cholera killed 1,190 people in the DRC for 55,000 cases.
Experts say “a total of 15,766 cases [de choléra] on average are expected over the next 6 months in the DRC. “
WHO indicates that vaccination of high-risk populations is one of the lines of response in the response plan.
This activity will target more than six million people “in high-risk health areas with two doses of OCV vaccine” by 2020.
In 2018, in addition to cholera, the DRC is facing its tenth epidemic of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri which has left 212 dead since its declaration on August 1. The epidemic hits the town of Beni, where the health response is complicated by the killings of the armed group ADF.
A previous Ebola epidemic killed 33 people for a total of 54 cases in the northwestern province of Equateur.
Presidential, legislative and provincial elections are scheduled for December 23 in the DRC, the largest country in sub-Saharan Africa.
With AFP
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/data/photo/2020/06/26/5ef5c30876c0c.jpeg "The Government Reminds Two Sports Risks in the Covid-19 Pandemic Period")
