WHO intensifies support for Malawi, Mozambique following cholera outbreak

The World Health Organization (WHO) has intensified support for Malawi and Mozambique in the wake of an outbreak of cholera in the two African countries, the UN health agency said.

"The WHO offices in Malawi and Mozambique are facilitating cross-border meetings for the ministries of health in the two countries to agree on a common approach to prevent the outbreak from spreading further," Eugene Nyarko, a WHO representative for Malawi, was quoted by the African Press Organization, a Dakar-based newswire, as saying on Tuesday.

He said the WHO was making efforts to prevent the outbreak from reaching camps for the people who were displaced by floods along the border of Malawi and Mozambique.

The UN health agency and other international organizations "have mobilized and prepositioned cholera kits in all cholera prone districts," he added.

According to the Malawian Health Ministry, 55 cases of cholera and two deaths have been registered so far in the country.

The first case of cholera in Mozambique was registered on Dec. 25, 2014 and the outbreak has now affected over 3,700 people, with 39 deaths in 11 districts of four provinces.

Cholera can kill people within hours and it thrives in overcrowding areas due to shortage of safe water and poor healthcare service.

More than 230,000 internally displaced persons are living in temporary shelters in the border districts of Nsanje and Chikhwawa in Malawi. Endi