UN Health Agency Stresses Good Hygiene To Prevent Cholera Spread In Benin
New York, Feb 9 2010 5:10PM
Officials from the United Nations health agency and the Beninese Government are urging the West African nation’s
citizens to be extra vigilant in observing good hygiene amid a recent cholera outbreak that has already claimed several
lives.
Since the outbreak began in early January, 131 cases have been confirmed of which two resulted in death, according to
Léon Kohossi with the UN World Health Organization (WHO) in Benin.
“This epidemic has erupted due to lack of hygiene,” Dr. Kohossi told the UN News Centre.
He noted that with the current dry season in Benin, locals are finding it difficult to get clean water and are therefore
drinking from the Oueme River, which is polluted.
Most of the cases are centred around four villages located near the Oueme River – Bonou, Adjohoun, Dangbo and Aguegues.
Additional cases have been detected in the capital, Cotonou, which is some 200 kilometres from the epicentre of the
outbreak, and Allada, located 100 kilometres north of Cotonou.
The Ministry of Health and local authorities are working to sensitize people against drinking unclean water and trying
to identify ways to provide them with clean water.
Meanwhile, WHO is providing emergency kits, including medicine, that are being distributed to health centres in the
affected areas to treat patients with cholera – an acute intestinal infection picked up through contaminated food or
water, and which results in diarrhoea that can lead to severe dehydration and death without prompt treatment.
ENDS