25,000 Somalis infected with cholera this year, says WHO

The World Health Organisation said on Thursday that more than 25,000 people in famine-threatened Somalia have been infected with cholera since the beginning of this year, Anadolu has reported. The organisation warned that the figure is expected to double by the end of June.

#Drought

According to WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic, the fatality rate for the disease, which is spread by contaminated food or water, is already 2.1 per cent in Somalia, twice the emergency threshold. He pointed out that at least 524 deaths due to cholera have been recorded.

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A media statement from the WHO added that the UN is racing against time to avoid a repeat of the famine in the drought-hit Horn of Africa state where more than 250,000 people starved to death in 2011. UN spokesman Jens Laerke revealed that there are 2.9 million people at level 3 and 4, with level 4 being the step just before a famine is declared. “So almost 3 million people are already at those critical and crisis emergency levels,” he added.