See also:
» 27.09.2010 - Aid back to basics: Cash handouts in Niger
» 09.07.2010 - Again, aid to Niger's hungry comes too late
» 21.04.2010 - Hunger aid to Niger, Chad boosted
» 11.02.2010 - International aid appeal launched for Niger
» 25.07.2008 - MSF ordered to halt operations in Niger
» 09.01.2008 - Landmine kills media chief
» 13.09.2006 - Floods wreck fragile livelihoods
» 08.09.2006 - Floods in Niger, Burkina Faso affect 26,000











China wholesale online through DHgate.com


Houlihan's coupons


Finn autentiske matoppskrifter fra hele verden på Verdensmat.no:
Gazpacho Børek Kartoffelsalat Taboulé Gulasj Albóndigas Cevapi Rougaille Japrak sarma Zwiebelbrot Klopse Giouvetsi Paella Pljeskavica Pica pau Pulpo a la gallega Flammkuchen Langosj Tapenade Chatsjapuri Pasulj Lassi Kartoffelpuffer Tortilla Raznjici Knödel Lentejas Bœuf bourguignon Korianderchutney Brenneslesuppe Proia Sæbsi kavurma Sardinske calamares


Autentiske matoppskrifter fra hele verden finner du på Verdensmat.no:
Réunion Portugal Aserbajdsjan Serbia Tyskland Seychellene Bosnia Spania Libanon Belgia India Kroatia Hellas Italia Ungarn Komorene Georgia Mauritius Østerrike Romania Frankrike


Niger
Society | Agriculture - Nutrition | Health

Cholera epidemic follows floods

afrol News / IRIN, 26 September - Cholera has claimed 21 lives among 206 infected people in Niger following seasonal rains that have flooded communities and left them unable to cope with a health crisis.

The United Nations has sent emergency aid to Niger following the flooding, which has affected 43,000 people. The government says 10,000 people have lost their homes.

The UN children’s agency, UNICEF, has sent medicine, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has dispatched a team to evaluate the situation, and the World Food Programme (WFP) is also providing assistance. Urgent needs include food, treated mosquito nets and blankets.

A joint task force of the UN, Red Cross and NGOs has been put in place to monitor the cholera epidemic. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is overseeing an isolation unit 12 km south of the town Zinder, which is in the far southeast of the country.

“The situation is under control,” said Moussa Fatimata, secretary general of the Public Health Ministry.

He said epidemic management teams had been dispatched to affected regions and residents were receiving education about proper sanitation, especially in terms of potable water, to prevent further spread of the disease.

Cholera is an acute intestinal infection spread by contaminated water or food. It provokes vomiting and diarrhoea and can lead to death within hours. When it occurs in an unprepared community, fatality rates can be as high as 50 percent, according to the WHO. The illness, however, can be easily prevented through proper hygiene and quickly treated with oral re-hydration salts.

Nigerien health authorities said Zinder, 900 km east of the capital, Niamey, was the worst affected. They said eight people died and another 100 with symptoms of vomiting and diarrheoa were taken to a regional hospital centre for treatment.

Health authorities said they registered 141 cases of cholera as of 22 September in the Zinder neighbourhoods of Babban Tapki, Sabongari, Kara-Kara, Djagoundi, Birni and Nassaraoua Idi.

In Madarounfa, 700 km east of Niamey, seven deaths were reported among 44 cases of cholera. In Konni, 400 km east of Niamey, the toll was four dead among 16 registered cases. In Diffa, 1,300 km east of Niamey, two out of five infected people died.

Landlocked Niger, hemmed in by the Sahara desert in north central Africa, is the poorest country in the world, according to the UN's Human Development Index (HDI), which ranks 177 countries according to factors such as access to healthcare, literacy and life expectancy.

Niger’s population has boomed while desertification and soil desalination have stripped the earth of nutrients, meaning thousands of the country's 12 million people regularly fail to grow enough food to feed themselves. As nutrition has slumped, diseases such as polio, measles, cholera and sleeping sickness that nearly have been stamped out in many other sub-Saharan countries have sometimes become epidemic.

Although the Nigerien government spends 12 percent of its GDP on healthcare, according to the HDI, there are still only three doctors per 100,000 people in Niger. Twenty percent of Nigerien children die before their fifth birthday, mostly from malaria.


- Create an e-mail alert for Niger news
- Create an e-mail alert for Society news
- Create an e-mail alert for Agriculture - Nutrition news
- Create an e-mail alert for Health news


 
    Printable version


On the Afrol News front page now

Rwanda
Rwanda succeeds including citizens in formal financial sector

afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.

Famine warning: "South Sudan is imploding"

afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
Guinea
Panic in West Africa after Ebola outbreak in Guinea

afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia tightens its already strict anti-gay laws

afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia plans Africa's biggest dam

afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.



front page | news | countries | archive | currencies | news alerts login | about afrol News | contact | advertise | español 

©  afrol News. Reproducing or buying afrol News' articles.

   You can contact us at mail@afrol.com