Cholera outbreak in Lusaka

Up to 46 people have died in an outbreak of cholera in the Zambian capital Lusaka which started three weeks ago, a health worker in the city told IRIN on Wednesday. He said that the main reason behind the outbreak was lack of proper sanitation in the city. Two centres have been set up at the Mandevu and Chawama clinics in the city, but resources were already coming under severe strain as more cholera cases were being reported. The Zambian daily newspaper ‘The Post’ reported Lusaka’s Chawama Cholera Task Force Chairman Allan Mulenga as saying that there was a risk more people could lose their lives because they arrived at the treatment centres too late. The Lusaka City Council has begun to unblock sanitation pipes in the city, to prevent the disease from spreading to other regions. A spokesman for the city council said that the build up of refuse in the city was one of the main obstacles at the moment and unless it was removed the problem of cholera would continue.