cholera

Aid cuts and humanitarian deadlock are fuelling a full-blown public health disaster.

Preventable diseases are sweeping the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Cholera cases increased by 326, Mpox by 269, and measles by 95 people in North Kivu alone, during the last week of February, according to Oxfam’s partners on the ground. 

Oxfam warns that over six million people from farming families in Zambia are facing acute food shortages and malnutrition until next growing season, which is twelve months away, due to a severe drought, exacerbated by climate change and El Nino, which has caused massive crop failures for half of the nation’s “planted area”. 

Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe are facing an unprecedented surge of cholera cases, Oxfam warned today. The aid agency says the situation could become uncontrollable and difficult to manage due to a steady increase of COVID-19 cases and the onset of the rainy season, especially as the majority of vulnerable communities have no access to clean water and sanitation facilities - both of which are essential to prevent the spread of cholera. 
 

Thousands of people in Yemen could be dying from undetected cases of cholera because COVID-19 has overwhelmed the country’s health facilities and people are too frightened to seek treatment for fear of the virus, Oxfam said today.

The number of coronavirus cases in Yemen is likely to peak in the coming weeks while the heaviest rains are expected in August which could deepen a hidden cholera crisis.

 

Fears that the world’s worst cholera outbreak could be set for a massive resurgence are growing as aid agencies in Yemen are struggling to reach almost 40,000 people suspected to have the disease, Oxfam warned today.

The first fatality has been confirmed and the number of cases is soaring, now over 1,000.

News reports that the number of cases of cholera in the cyclone-devastated city of Beira has risen to 139.

Oxfam will begin distributing lifesaving aid including water purification tablets and hygiene kits to some of the communities worst affected by Cyclone Idai over this weekend. 

In response to the cholera outbreak hitting the million of suspected cases mark, Oxfam expressed today its appal at this horrifying new record for the country devastated by over 1,000 days of war.