The death toll in Angola’s cholera epidemic has reached 2Â 000, with the number of cases exceeding 48Â 000, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday.
From February 13 to July 4 this year, ”a total of 48Â 817 cumulative cases and 2Â 003 deaths have been reported in 14 out of the 18 provinces” in Angola, a WHO statement said.
It said 89 new cases and two deaths had been reported in the previous 24 hours alone.
The highest toll since February was recorded in the eastern coastal province of Benguela, with 512 deaths, followed by 295 fatalities in Luanda and 241 in the Malange region.
Angola’s current epidemic, one of Africa’s worst, was first detected in February.
The deadly but easily treatable water-borne disease broke out in Luanda’s northern slum of Boa Vista and rapidly spread throughout the seaside capital and to other parts of the oil-rich Southern African country.
The spread of the water-borne disease has been exacerbated by poor sanitation, an acute lack of drinking water and inadequate infrastructure.
Agola’s devastating 27-year war that ended in 2002 wreaked havoc on its infrastructure. — Sapa-AFP