GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization says cholera cases in Somalia are increasing fast as many people are driven from their homes by fighting between the government and rebels.
WHO spokesman Paul Garwood says in one hospital in the capital of Mogadishu there were 132 people ill with cholera last week. He says that’s a 27 percent rise compared to the previous week. Most of them were children.
Garwood says other parts of Somalia also are seeing a spike in cholera cases.
The agency does not have overall figures, but Garwood said Friday that at least 31 people died of cholera.
Fighting between Islamists and the Western-backed government has uprooted tens of thousands this year alone. Many stay in the streets of Mogadishu without clean water and basic services.
