cholera

Thousands of people living in camps in Haiti remain at risk from flooding and disease, according to international aid agency Oxfam, despite the Caribbean island appearing to have avoided the worst of tropical storm Isaac.

Oxfam will be flying out eight tons of water purification aid to Sierra Leone as it boosts its response to the cholera outbreak which is spreading across the country.

Sierra Leone is in the grip of one of the worst cholera outbreak in its history with death rates almost double emergency thresholds and the number of people affected likely to increase significantly in the next month.

Millions of people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are now at the mercy of militias as the country's long-running conflict descends into widespread lawlessness with killing, kidnapping and abuse against the population at alarming levels.

Tropical storm Dando and cyclone Funso affected more than 117,000 people and left 40 dead in Mozambique last week. Oxfam and local partners are providing water and sanitation in Zambezia, to help reduce the risk of cholera and other sanitation-related disease.

International agency Oxfam is airlifting 47 tonnes of vital water supply and hygiene materials to Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, as the aid community scales up its effort to bring relief to the drought-stricken country.

Mimy Muisa Kambere, Public Health Promoter for Oxfam in Haiti said: *

Over the weekend Oxfam began chlorinating water for 300,000 people in a slum area of Cap Haitien. Recent violence spread across the city and Oxfam had to stop those activities. Other activities that have ceased are distributions of soap, water tablets and oral rehydration salts.

International agency Oxfam has doubled its cholera response since the first cases were confirmed in October in Haiti. Oxfam’s water, sanitation and hygiene education programs are now reaching over 700,000 people in the capital Port-au-Prince, Artibonite, and Cap Haitien.