An acute watery diarrhea is spreading across the Horn of Africa, and the ongoing conflict between the Kenyan military and the Somalia-based militant group al-Shabab is not helping ease the situation.
AWD is a deadly disease that has cost the lives of more than 700 people in Djibouti and Somalia. Most have died from severe dehydration and excessive fluid loss.
World Health Organization spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said the recurring drought and poor hygiene are driving the outbreak. He noted that 50,000 cases — likely “under-reported” as not all were being detected — have already been recorded in the region just this year.
U.N. emergency relief chief Valerie Amos, meanwhile, expressed her concern about the intensifying conflict in Somalia, which she says “threatens to increase internal displacement and may also reduce the ability of aid organizations to provide life-saving assistance to people coping with famine.”
The United Nations suspended all non-lifesaving operations in Dabaab following the kidnapping of two Médecins Sans Frontières aid workers in October. Most of the aid work now is being done by small Somali groups, but even they are having difficulties getting food and other goods across the Kenyan border.
The WHO and the health ministry are already working on contingency plans to contain the outbreak. They are training health workers, pre-positioning oral dehydration salts and much-needed medicines, and chlorinating and monitoring water supplies.
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