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Africa News afrol News
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Africa News afrol News
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afrol.com, 19 November - According to news report, cholera has broken out again in the regions of Beravina and Ankofafa in Madagascar PANA. The disease reportedly already has killed four people, and 11 others have been admitted to the main hospital in the southern city of Fianarantsoa. Health authorities said lack of medicine would soon "pose a serious threat to the health of the people in the regions." There are only 3,000 bottles of medicine at the main hospital in Fianarantsoa to cure people suffering from cholera. A patient usually needs 10 bottles to be cured of cholera. Doctors have appealed for the urgent delivery of sufficient medicines. The new outbreak comes after serious cholera outbreaks on Madagscar and the Comoros earlier this year. From December 1999 until April 2000, a total of 15,173 cases of cholera with 860 deaths (case-fatality rate 5.7%) were reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The epidemic then affected six provinces: Toliary, Antananarivo, Antsiranana, Mahajanga, Toamasina and Fianarantsoa. WHO undertook a mission to support the Ministry of Health in its efforts to respond to the epidemic. The UN agency also provided technical support together with other partners. The first cases of cholera in Madagascar occurred in late March 1999 in Mahajanga Province. Two other provinces, Antananarivo and Antsiranana, were affected later in the year.
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