Blantyre | Saturday
THE death toll from a cholera outbreak that began in November in Malawi has shot up to 503, with most of the deaths reported in the last month, health authorities said on Saturday.
The cholera outbreak has been exacerbated by Malawi’s hunger crisis, which has left three-quarters of the nation’s 11-million people without enough food, secretary for health Richard Pendame said.
”The hunger crisis has worsened the cholera outbreak because people do not follow proper hygiene methods before eating. People tend to eat anything and the food they find is sometimes unclean,” he said.
He said 18 026 cases of cholera had been reported in 23 of the country’s 27 districts, compared to a total of 2 000 cholera cases reported last year, when the country had relatively abundant food supplies.
Most of the deaths were reported during the last month. By late February, only 175 cases had been reported.
Half of Malawi’s population does not have access to clean water. The disease is treatable, if patients receive medication as soon as they show signs of the illness, which include acute, watery diarrhoea, vomiting and high fever.
Cholera is an infectious, potentially fatal disease that thrives in conditions of poor hygiene and inadequate water supplies. It is generally caused by using dirty water for drinking and cooking.- Sapa-AFP