Danger of acute malaria outbreak in Kinshasa

The international medical agency Merlin on Monday warned of the danger of an acute malaria outbreak in Kinshasa resulting from the flooding of low-lying areas by the River Congo. "The Congo often bursts its banks, but this flooding is already the worst on record. Malaria isn't new to Kinshasa either - it's endemic there - but this deadly combination means the city could be facing an acute outbreak," said Linda Doull, medical adviser for Merlin's DRC programme. Families evacuated from low-lying areas of the city, which are also the most populous, are now living rough in derelict warehouses and there has been an increased incidence of diarrhoea and malaria as people are cramped together without basic shelter, clean water, adequate sanitation or mosquito nets. Half a million people are estimated to have been affected so far in the Congo Basin flooding, with the prospect of additional problems arising before the end of the rainy season around mid-January.