Since the beginning of January, MSF has recorded more than 1.700 people with cholera in the cities of Lubumbashi, Bukama and Likasi. All these people came from the cities’ poor areas where bad hygiene conditions combined with high population density contribute to the flaring up of this extremely contagious disease. “What we have seen in Lubumbashi was repeated in Likasi,” said Bertrand Perrochet, MSF emergency team coordinator. “Adequate measures to avoid the outbreak have not been taken by the health authorities. In the space of a few days the main referral hospitals in the district of Kenya in Lubumbashi and in the city of Likasi were overloaded. There were not enough beds, no continuous disinfection of the building,

Related News:

 Fact Sheet: MSF activities in North Kivu, DRC - 06.10.2008 15:58

 War resumes in North Kivu, DRC - 06.10.2008 12:10

 Violence intensifies in North Kivu, DRC - 23.09.2008 14:09