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Mozambique: Rise of cholera cases after Cyclone Freddy
25/04/2023 22:09 in World News

According to UNICEF, the number of cholera cases in Mozambique has surged tenfold since February, with more than 28,000 people affected in the southern African country still recovering from Cyclone Freddy.

 

"More than 28,000 cases of cholera have been recorded in Mozambique," Guy Taylor, spokesperson for the UN agency's Mozambican department, said at a news conference in Geneva. The country has received 2.4 million doses of the oral vaccine.

 

"This is ten times the number recorded at the beginning of February, and more than half of the cases involve children," he added, adding that the figures are still rising. The cyclone's disruption of water supply, hygiene, and sanitation services has accelerated the spread.

 

Since late last year, the disease has killed 123 individuals in Mozambique, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). According to the WHO, cholera, an acute diarrheal sickness caused by eating contaminated food or drinking polluted water, is on the rise, particularly in Africa.

 

According to UNICEF, Freddy destroyed a hundred health facilities and 250 water stations in Mozambique, depriving over 300,000 people of potable water, primarily in the country's poorest region.

 

The typhoon killed at least 86 people and displaced tens of thousands in the country of 33 million people. The typhoon also impacted almost 390,000 hectares of land, increasing fears about the next harvest.

 

Freddy made his way to Madagascar and Mozambique in late February before heading back to the Indian Ocean. It had then regained power due to the warm waters and returned to the continent. When it returned, it wreaked havoc on landlocked Malawi, killing nearly 680 people and leaving many more missing.

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