Cholera outbreak, food shortages and bad weather threaten Burundians, UN says

Cholera has broken out in some of the most densely populated suburbs of Burundi's capital, Bujumbura, and more than 50 cases have been reported to public health facilities, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says.

The Kamenge neighbourhood alone reported more than 20 cases, while the Nyakabiga, Bwiza, Buyenzi and Ngagara districts have all been affected. The UN World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and health care non-governmental organizations (NGOs) met yesterday to map out containment and preventive actions, OCHA said.

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have estimated that late rains, recent hailstorms, floods and the spread of a disease of the basic cassava root crop were increasing food insecurity in some communities in the Ruyigi and Cankuzo provinces.

Sixty-three families had fled Kirundo province and gone to the Kabuyenge internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Gisuru province in search of food, OCHA said, adding that it was organizing emergency aid.

Floods from torrential rains in the Gihanga community, Bubanza Province, and Mutimbuzi in Bujumbura Rural displaced 1,500 people.

WFP has distributed 1,541 tons of food to 317,095 people through programmes in these provinces, OCHA said.