Some 1,800 dead from cholera in Ebola-hit DR Congo
The Democratic Republic of Congo is facing its worst cholera outbreak in decades, with 1,800 deaths recorded this year. The crisis is exacerbated by ongoing conflict, the Ebola epidemic, and the rainy season, which threatens to spread the disease to the capital, Kinshasa.
Why it matters
The intersection of armed conflict and multiple disease outbreaks creates a severe humanitarian crisis that threatens regional stability and public health.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the Democratic Republic of Congo is facing its worst cholera outbreak in decades. (EPA Images pic)
GENEVA: Cholera has killed around 1,800 people so far this year in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is also battling its deadliest Ebola outbreak, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.
Some 60,000 cases of the diarrhoeal disease have been recorded in what the UN health agency's chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, described as the vast central African country's "worst cholera outbreak in decades".
Most of the infections had been detected in the DRC's eastern provinces of North and South Kivu, both prey to a litany of armed groups and partly under the control of the Rwanda-backed M23 militia, Tedros said.
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