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Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) has set up a camp in Ruziba, Bujumbura Rural, to provide medical assistance to those affected by an outbreak of cholera in the province's regroupment camps. An MSF official in Nairobi told IRIN the agency received a request from Burundi's health ministry late last week to resume its full operations in the camps. "Although this request was unacceptable, MSF decided to set up a cholera camp in Ruziba,"
she said. "MSF chose Ruziba because it is close to town and because there are no medical NGOs in the area." According to figures from the ministry, some 161 suspected cases were registered in five days with five deaths.
MSF said it had not confirmed these figures. The agency also said there were unconfirmed reports of the risk of an epidemic in six other camps. "However, we can only move into the camps if cholera is officially declared an epidemic and this can only be done by the ministry of health or the WHO," she 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