Angola's cholera toll rises

2006-04-28 13:41

Luanda - The death toll after a deadly outbreak of cholera in war-devastated Angola has climbed to over 900, a medical humanitarian organisation said on Thursday, reporting one death every hour this week.

"Ten weeks after the confirmation of the first case of cholera in Luanda, some 20 000 people are infected of which 900 have died," Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors Without Borders) said in a statement, released in the capital.

"By Tuesday, 929 new cases and 25 new deaths were reported," the non-governmental organisation said.

The last toll reported by the UN's World Health Organisation stood at 570 just over a week ago.

Cholera, a highly infectious waterborne disease that causes severe diarrhoea, is now present in large swathes of the vast south-western African country.

MSF urged the Angolan government and international aid organisations to intensify attempts to contain the epidemic.

"Everybody was slow to react," said Richard Veerman, who heads MSF's Belgian wing in Luanda. "Many factors contributed to make this cholera epidemic, one of the worst in Angola," he said in the statement.

"But from what we know today, there are no more excuses. All should be done that is humanly possible to stop the loss of more human lives," he said.

- AFP