APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) Cholera has claimed 23 lives in parts of eastern Ethiopia that was hit by severe flooding, Save the Children UK has announced.
In a statement issued on Friday, Save the Children UK warned that the outbreak could spread out of control in the region.
It said Ethiopia neighbours including Kenya and Somalia were hit by heavy rains and floods, due to ‘El Niño’.
Many people reportedly lost their lives, and two million others were displaced.
In Ethiopia’s Somali region, 772 people have been infected and 23 people have lost their lives in the last two weeks, according to Save the Children UK.
In the worst-affected Kelafo Wereda, the pandemic is spreading rapidly among children under the age of five. This accounts for 80 percent of the entire infected people, the organisation said.
Due to lack of basic sanitation services and the contamination of tap drinking water, the deadly disease is feared to spread rapidly, according to the news source.
The disease, which is transmitted through contaminated water and food, has been found to have occurred in 91 areas in Ethiopia.
MG/as/APA