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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.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
