Honest, paywall-free news is rare. Please support our boldly independent journalism with a donation of any size.
Nairobi, Kenya – A cholera epidemic is sweeping across Somalia, the United Nations said on Friday, as thousands of starving people flee famine zones and pack into crowded camps in the capital, Mogadishu.
According to the United Nations World Health Organization, 181 people have died from suspected cholera cases in a single hospital in Mogadishu, and there have been several other confirmed cholera outbreaks across the country.
“We don’t see the end of it,” said Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesman for the World Health Organization. “As long as we have people on the move, in crowded places and using contaminated water, we will see a rise in cases. All the causes are still there.”
Parts of southern Somalia are in the grip of a famine, the result of years of conflict and one of the worst droughts in 60 years. Compounding the problem are the limitations of the transitional government of Somalia, which controls little more than the capital — and it is a loose control at that — and much of the country is in the hands of a group of Islamist militants, the Shabab, who have forced out many Western aid organizations.
United Nations agencies and private aid groups are struggling to respond to the needs, and though some progress has been made in recent weeks, many Shabab areas are essentially off-limits. More than 100,000 people have recently fled famine areas and settled in makeshift camps in Mogadishu, which have become breeding grounds for measles, cholera and other diseases.
Cholera is spread through dirty water. It is easily treated with oral rehydration salts and antibiotics. But many health centers in Somalia lack even these basic supplies.
The American government estimates that at least 29,000 Somali children have died so far from the famine, and many more are expected to die unless enough emergency food and trained medical personnel can reach the famine areas soon.
This article, “Cholera Outbreaks Spread Across Somalia, U.N. Says,” originally appeared in The New York Times.
An urgent fundraising appeal: We still need to raise $12,000
Truthout is one of only a few platforms for justice-oriented, grassroots journalism. Today, we face an existential threat.
Due to Google’s launch of AI search, we’ve seen a drastic plunge in our site traffic and, as a result, our revenue. We lost 15 percent of our readership overnight. This was a readership we painstakingly built over decades, and it vanished because Google chose corporate greed over a healthy democracy.
We are fundraising right now to meet our basic operating expenses. If you can support Truthout with a one-time or monthly donation, you will make a significant impact on our work. Anything you can do makes a difference — we appreciate your support.