Cameroon needs €3.8m for cholera
2010-08-26 21:39
Yaounde - Cameroon will need at least €3.8m to fund its emergency plan following a cholera outbreak in the north, which has killed 278 people since May, its health ministry said on Thursday.
The government and its partners have "devised an emergency plan to contain a cholera outbreak in the Extreme-Nord and Nord regions," said Professor Gervais Ondobo, who heads the health ministry's committee against cholera.
The provisional budget for the response, planned until July 2011, is €3.8m, state radio and television station CRTV said, citing figures from the committee. This money is not yet available, it added.
Ondobo said the government's response to the outbreak will be rolled out in two phases. The first period, from August to November, will focus on the essentials - water purification tablets, medical kits, drinking water and training health staff to treat the outbreak victims.
In the second phase, from December to July 2011, the government plans to renovate 200 wells and build 50 new wells and 200 latrines.
Cameroon is facing its most serious cholera outbreak in a decade, after the first case was detected on May 6 in the Extreme-Nord region. Earlier this month, the health ministry put the death toll at 225.
- SAPA