UN helps Angola fight rising cholera outbreak

United Nations agencies are helping the Government of Angola fight a cholera outbreak that is showing signs of soaring after already infecting nearly 14,000 people, killing almost 650 of them, since February.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN World Health Organization (WHO), and government partners, primarily the Ministries of Health and Energy and Water, as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), have teamed up to provide medicines, clean water and case management.

The number of cases has increased sharply with continued heavy rains, reaching a rate of 700 to 850 a day. Contaminated water is major vehicle for infection.

Cholera, an acute intestinal disease caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, causes copious, painless, watery diarrhoea that can quickly lead to severe dehydration and death if treatment, including rehydration, is not given promptly. Vomiting also occurs in most patients.

Apart from significant human suffering, the disease disrupts social and economic structures and puts tremendous strain on already precarious national health systems. Seasonal factors, such as the rainy season, contribute to the disease's spread.

UNICEF has distributed 217,300 sachets of Oral Rehydration Salts as well as 1,780 kilos of Calcium Hypochlorite to treat water at source for distribution to communities, benefiting 200,000 people daily.

It has also supplied and installed 50 10,000-litre water tanks and 20 10,000-litre water bladders, with stand-posts, in Luanda, as well as 70,000 packets of water treatment kits to supply treated water for 70,000 households for 10 days, and 17,000 jerry cans.

The agency is continuing to distribute soap, boots, gloves, aprons, first aid kits, essential drugs and hypochlorite of calcium in affected provinces, and providing technical assistance, tents and basic equipment for establishing cholera control treatment centres.

UNICEF is training social mobilizers and disseminating social communication materials such as training manuals, posters, leaflets and CDs, to affected communities.