N’DJAMENA, Sept. 6 — The number of people killed in a cholera outbreak in Chad since July has reached 113, the Chadian health ministry said in a statement on Friday.
A total of 1,631 suspected cases have been recorded. The statement said the data was reported during a meeting chaired by Public Health Minister Abdelmadjid Abderahim to discuss strategies to prevent the disease from spreading.
Chad has received 1,120,295 doses of cholera vaccine, the statement said, adding that the vaccines are being deployed to the eastern area for a vaccination campaign.
The government has urged Chadians to strictly follow hygiene measures to help curb the spread of infections. The first cholera case was detected in the Dougui refugee camp in the eastern Ouaddai region on July 13.
The camp hosts approximately 20,000 Sudanese refugees. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned in early September that cholera remains the major public health concern in Africa in terms of the number of cases and fatalities.
Some 23 cholera-affected African countries have reported a total of 239,754 cases and over 5,274 related deaths since the beginning of this year, data showed.
