Mogadishu, Oct 12 (Prensa Latina) Somalia is facing a tough situation after the cholera outbreak that has caused 42 deaths since 2017, and 45 percent of new cases are children up to age 5.
The World Health Organization (WHO) stated in its most recent report on cholera that the Somali Ministry of Health had also reported 29 new cases from September 24 to 30.
The war-torn country also fights hunger and malnutrition amid precarious sanitary conditions.
The total number of cases is 6,423, including 42 associated deaths, since the start of the active outbreak in December 2017.
This gastrointestinal disease is usually transmitted by contaminated food and water, can cause severe diarrhea which in extreme cases causes irreversible dehydration and severe kidney failure in hours.
However, WHO indicated a downward trend in cases reported in the past six weeks.
The UN agency also called for heavy investment in Somalia’s fragile health care infrastructure to accelerate its reconstruction after 27 years of armed conflict.
WHO has trained Somali health workers to help tackle disease and is also calling for greater contributions to surveillance infrastructure to improve timely response to outbreaks of other diseases in this African country.
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