The number
of people dying due to Cholera outbreak in Sierra Leone is increasing. According
to WHO Global Alert and response (GAR), there have been 11653 cases with 216
deaths since the begging of the year. The rate of new cases has accelerated
rapidly since the beginning of August: since then, 5 706 cases have been
recorded, and two new districts, Bonthe and Kono, have been affected by the
epidemic. Ten of the country’s 13 districts are now registering cases and this
spread emphasizes the need to rapidly scale up the response.
The government
in partnership with Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), UNICEF, WHO, Red Cross and
other partners, is implementing the following prevention and control
activities: epidemiological investigation, surveillance, case management at
established cholera treatment centres, water and sanitation control measures,
social mobilization and community education.
There has been a concern that somecommunities are not reached by the interventions, raising the suspicion that
the number of people affected might increase significantly in the next month.
Cholera is an
infection of the small intestine that causes a
large amount of watery diarrhea.It is caused by a bacterium vibrio Cholera that releases a toxin that causes increased release of water from cells in
the intestines, which produces severe diarrhoea. Cholera occurs in places with poor sanitation, crowding, war,
and famine
