May 18 2011
An early rainy season has caused cholera to sweep through Cameroon's capital Yaounde, "causing more than 250 deaths in two months alone, according to the government," AlertNet reports. The outbreak "is not limited to Cameroon. Since September, cases have occurred in other parts of Central and West Africa, including Chad, Niger and Nigeria, according to a report from the World Health Organization (WHO). The affected area is home to some 5 million people," the article notes (Ngalame, 5/16).
Africa Review reports that the European Commission will provide Cameroon $1 million "towards cholera response and preparedness programmes throughout the country. The outbreak, which started in the northern part of Cameroon, has spread considerably, affecting areas of higher population density" (5/17).
 This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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