Fourteen dead as diarrhoea hits Oromiya region

An outbreak of acute diarrhoea has claimed the lives of 14 people in the Oromiya region of southern Ethiopia, where more than 530 cases of the disease have been reported in the past two weeks, a United Nations agency said.

Cases had been reported in the East Shoa zone of the region, with the worst-hit areas being Shashemene, Siraro and Arsi Negele, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said in a bulletin issued on Monday. Water from a contaminated river is thought to have been the source of the outbreak, but investigations were continuing, OCHA added.

Treatment units had been set up at the Shasheme Hospital and a health centre had been built in the town. Five mobile community treatment centres were also providing services in the rural villages of Shashemene district. The Oromiya health bureau had sent three staff equipped with essential drugs in an effort to address the problem of a shortage of health professionals.

There was an immediate need for water and sanitation support and the health ministry had asked for help from the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). An inter-agency assessment team from UNICEF, the international NGO Merlin, and the ministry of water resources had travelled to the area on 6 July and UNICEF has sent some emergency supplies, according to the humanitarian update.

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