Cholera has claimed 1,800 lives since the beginning of this year in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is also experiencing the worst Ebola outbreak in its history, the World Health Organization announced Wednesday.
The Director-General of the UN agency, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, described the outbreak as "the worst cholera outbreak in decades," after 60,000 cases were recorded in the large Central African country.
According to Tedros, the majority of cases are concentrated in the eastern provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, where armed groups are widespread.
The Rwandan-backed M23 rebel group controls large areas in both provinces.
“What is worrying is that cases have been reported in areas within the Congo River basin, increasing the risk of the epidemic reaching Kinshasa,” he added.
Similar to the Ebola epidemic, cholera is spreading in remote, hard-to-reach areas of the country plagued by armed conflict, which is hindering response efforts.
As a result, the World Health Organization indicated that these areas, already suffering the consequences of the Ebola epidemic, are also at risk of a large-scale cholera outbreak.
It also warned that the rainy season could accelerate the spread of the waterborne disease, risking its arrival in Kinshasa, the large and densely populated city on the banks of the Congo River.
The disease has a mortality rate of about three percent, which is high for cholera.
Tedros stressed that launching a campaign to distribute Ebola vaccines, particularly in the conflict-ridden eastern regions of the country, is a “crucial” step.
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