Forty cholera-related death in Port Loko

Forty cholera-related deaths occurred in Port Loko District in September, the UN Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Unit (HACU) quotes the district medical officer as saying. An additional 400 cases are currently being treated. WHO confirmed that “a cholera epidemic was indeed underway” in Kafu Bullom, Lokomassama and Maforki chiefdoms in Port Loko after assessments were made in these chiefdoms last month in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. WHO concluded that the high case fatality rate early in the outbreak was attributable to late referral due to poor awareness among the many displaced people who had entered Port Loko from rebel-held areas in the north. By the second week public awareness had increased and the case fatality rate fell from 15.2 percent to 1.5 percent. The humanitarian response to the outbreak in these areas was “sound”, WHO reported, and collaboration between the government, UN agencies and NGOs was “proven to be highly effective”. Meanwhile, reported cholera cases on the Freetown peninsula have increased to 927 cases with nine cholera-related deaths as at 9 October, HACU said.