11 more cholera deaths reported in January

The cholera epidemic in Mali has been brought under control in most of the country, but continues unabated in the Mopti region, where a further 11 people died of the water-borne disease in January, Health Ministry sources said. The sources told IRIN on Thursday that 156 new cases of cholera were reported in the Niger river valley in and around the city of Mopti, 450 km northeast of the capital Bamako, between 1 and 26 January. One health worker in Mopti pointed out that the rice harvest was in full swing in the district and the movement of people associated with this was partly responsible for the high number of new cases still appearing there “The situation is complicated by the ongoing problem of hygiene and by the movements of populations for the rice harvest,” he told IRIN. Between August and early December 2003, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported 1,149 cholera cases in the Koulikoro, Segou and Mopti regions of central Mali which resulted in 78 deaths. The Niger River, the third largest in Africa, courses northeast through Mali. As it passes through Mopti region it fans out to form a large inland delta. The river banks are fertile planting ground for rice. However, the swampy conditions are also breeding grounds for a whole array of water borne disease. Cholera, a potentially fatal form of diarrhoea, is generally spread by contaminated drinking water. The local authorities in Mopti region have intensifed their information campaign about measures to prevent the disease. Local radios are broadcasting special cholera awareness messages and town criers equipped with megaphones have been sent out onto the streets. Teams have also been sent to affected villages to treat water supplies and disinfect latrines. Teachers at government schools and private Koranic schools in this largely Muslim country, are impressing the importance of strict hygiene on pupils. The cholera awareness campaign began last November. Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world with around 70 percent of the country living on less than one US dollar a day, according to the World Bank. Although 62 percent of the population has access to safe drinking water, 20 percent of Malians have no modern water facilities at all.