The death toll in Angola’s cholera epidemic has reached near the 1Â 900 mark, with the number of cases exceeding 46Â 000, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday.
From February 13 to June 19 this year, ”a total of 46Â 758 cumulative cases and 1Â 893 deaths have been reported in 14 out of the 18 provinces” in Angola, a WHO statement said.
It said 123 new cases and four deaths had been reported in the previous two days alone.
The highest toll since February was recorded in the eastern coastal province of Benguela, with 504 deaths, followed by 291 fatalities in Luanda and 225 in the Luanda Norte 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.
Angola’s devastating 27-year war, which ended in 2002, wreaked havoc on its infrastructure. — Sapa-AFP