Threat of disease outbreaks as flooding persists

Two cases of cholera have been reported in southern Somalia, aid officials said on Thursday, amid fears that the devastating floods that have hit the Horn of Africa could lead to further outbreaks of water-borne diseases and malaria.

The two cases were reported in a village near the town of Jilib, close to the Juba River, which breached its banks after torrential rainfall, James Lorenz, communications officer for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), said.

According to MSF, lack of clean drinking water was the main problem in southern Somalia because 70 percent of the shallow wells on which residents depend for water had been contaminated. Shortages of charcoal and firewood meant people did not boil drinking water and were therefore exposed to water-borne diseases.

There were also food shortages as many families along the Juba and Shabelle river valleys in southern Somalia had lost food stocks due to the floods, MSF said in a statement. Flooding had also destroyed crops due for harvest in December. Shelter materials were also required.

Fears of water-borne diseases were also expressed in neighbouring Kenya where villages in Northeastern Province, the Tana River delta and the coastal region have been submerged after heavy rainfall.

"With the collapse of latrines we fear there will be outbreaks of diarrhoeal diseases and malaria," said James Kisia, director of health at the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS).

There were also fears that the polio virus could spread through the use of contaminated water, Kisia said. One polio case was reported in October in the Dadaab refugee camps sheltering more than 160,000 people, most of them from Somalia.

Poliomyelitis (‘polio’) is caused by the polio virus, which enters the body orally, infecting the intestinal lining and leading to paralysis.

Kisia said the KRCS, which estimates that 300,000 Kenyans have been affected by the floods, had sent teams to the Northeastern Province to help with hygiene awareness campaigns in an effort to prevent disease. The agency had also supplied water treatment tablets and mobilised its volunteers to ensure they were ready to cope with any outbreaks.

The KRCS was also preparing relief supplies for western Kenya amid meteorological reports that rainfall would intensify in the area, which is also prone to flooding, according to Kisia.

Flooding in Kenya has damaged many roads and bridges, particularly in the Indian Ocean coastal region, hampering relief efforts. The army and the Ministry of Public Works have been repairing the roads and bridges in the Coast Province. In Northeastern Province, however, most of the main roads remained impassable.

On 17 November, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland, approved requests for funding through the Central Emergency Relief Fund submitted by UN agencies in Kenya. An amount of US$11.8 million was allocated to Kenya for emergency support in food and nutrition, logistics, protection, health, water, refugee and livestock sectors. The money will fund relief work by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, World Health Organization and Food and Agriculture Organization.

The UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also provided an emergency cash grant of $50,000 through the UN Development Fund to the Kenya Red Cross Society for non-food items, health and water interventions.

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