YAOUNDE, Aug. 25 — At least 63 people have died following a cholera outbreak in eastern Chad, the country’s health ministry said in a statement on Monday.
A total of 938 suspected cases have been recorded, 52 samples analyzed, and 39 cases confirmed in Ouaddai Province, where the outbreak has been ongoing since July, according to the statement.
Early Monday, Public Health Minister Abdelmadjid Abderahim met with health authorities in Abeche, the capital of Ouaddai Province, to discuss strategies to prevent the disease from spreading.
The government has ramped up efforts to curb the spread of the disease, including scaling up water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions, Abderahim said during the meeting.
Authorities also called for vigilance and strict adherence to hygiene measures to slow the spread of the disease. Last month, at least four people died following a cholera outbreak in the Dougui refugee camp in Ouaddai Province.
The camp hosts approximately 20,000 Sudanese refugees. In June, the World Health Organization warned that cholera cases in Sudan were likely to rise and could spread to neighboring countries, including Chad, which hosts hundreds of thousands of refugees from Sudan in crowded conditions. (Xinhua)
