Cholera kills 10 Somalis in world’s largest refugee camp

NAIROBI: At least 10 people have died and over 1,000 fallen sick with cholera in an outbreak among Somali refugees in the world’s largest refugee camp in Kenya, UN officials said Saturday.

The outbreak began in November in the Dadaab camp complex in northeastern Kenya, home to some 350,000 Somali refugees, said Osman Yussuf Ahmed, from the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

Aid workers say they are working to stop the outbreak spreading.

“The most important thing is hygiene,” Ahmed said, describing how aid workers were spraying chlorine across the camp and distributing soap. “We are not leaving anything to chance.”

Cholera is transmitted through contaminated drinking water and causes acute diarrhoea, and the outbreak has been exacerbated by weeks of heavy rains in Kenya.

The refugees in Dadaab have come to Kenya in waves since 1991, propelled by civil war and famine. - AFP