Cholera kills hundreds in Congo

Via Global Post :

" Cholera outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring Republic of Congo have humanitarian agencies scrambling for funds, and neighboring countries on high alert, the U.N. reports.

In a statement last week, the U.N. said the disease has affected nine of DR Congo’s 11 provinces, and the aid response is short on funds. At the beginning of this month, nearly 600 people had died from the disease in DR Congo, and thousands of others were ill.

“Efforts to combat the spread of cholera in the Democratic Republic of the Congo remain underfunded,” reads the U.N. statement. “The lack of access to potable water is the single most important cause of recurring outbreaks of the disease in the country.”

In the Republic of Congo, 340 cases have been reported since last summer, and nine people have died, according to the World Health Organization. But doctors say in the remote countryside, it is hard to accurately assess the real impact of the disease."