Cholera persists in Kasai Orientale

The International Federation of the Red Cross has said that the reoccurrence of a cholera epidemic in the city of Mbuji-Mayi and outlying villages in Kasai Orientale Province of south-central Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is due to poor hygiene and lack of drinking water and latrines. In a report issued on Thursday, the Federation warned that with the departure of some humanitarian agencies from Mbuji-Mayi, the local crisis committee, set up by the Congolese government to coordinate response to the epidemic that erupted in September 2002, was missing necessary supplies to fight the disease. The Federation said that an assessment mission carried out by the crisis committee at the end of May found that there was need for additional shelter and bedding for the increasing number of patients; reinforcement of existing centres with hygiene material, medicine and oral rehydratation salts, chlorine, protective materials, vapourisers; and increased medical staff appointed by the Health Ministry. Moreover, the crisis committee said that hygiene procedures needed to be reinforced, and that social mobilisation in mining areas needed to be intensified. Quoting health reports at the end of May, the Federation said that 5,008 cases of cholera had been registered, with 263 deaths, representing a mortality rate of 5.25 percent. In a 20 June report, the UN World Health Organisation representative in Mbuji-Mayi said the mortality rate stood at 8.75 cases per week, or 5 percent mortality. [For the complete IFRC report, go to www.ifrc.org ]