Cholera has claimed more than 570 lives over the past two months in the war-devastated Southern African nation of Angola, where police on Wednesday vowed to join the fight against the epidemic.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday that 576 people had died of cholera since February 13 in a country with abysmal sanitation facilities and an acute shortage of drinking water.
”We are determined to give our support to sanitation authorities to fight cholera,” Angola’s national police force said in a statement signed by spokesperson Carmo Neto.
According to the latest figures by the WHO and the health ministry, a total of 12 176 people have been affected by cholera with 118 deaths in the capital city of Luanda.
Richard Veeman from the Belgian wing of Médécins Sans Frontières said the lack of drinking water and poor sanitary conditions were the main problems.
But Angolan Health Minister Sebastiao Veloso said the cases were declining in the country, which suffered from 27 years of brutal civil war which only ended in 2002.
”Some days back, we had 560 cases daily, now that’s no longer the scenario,” he said. – Sapa-AFP