Rainy season brings cholera spike in DRC

(Vatican Radio) Katanga province is the southernmost of eleven provinces which make up the Democratic Republic of Congo, and its eastern border with Tanzania is marked by the length of the enormous Tanganyika Lake, the world’s longest freshwater lake. Within Katanga province, Tanganyika district is the worst affected by this year’s cholera outbreak, which has spiked as usual with the advent of the rainy season.


At least 11.687 cases of cholera were recorded in Katanga province this year before the end October. The death rate stands at approximately 2.5%, with more than 264 people killed by the ongoing epidemic since the start of 2013.


To find out more about the causes of the situation on the ground, Giulia Cirillo spoke to Saidou Hamanin, who directs the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Katanga province.


Listen to the full interview:


“I think the main causes are related to the rainy season. They don’t have sufficient water and sanitation structures in the remote areas, so these populations are exposed to the risk, because they don’t have access to drinkable water, so they just drink whatever they have. So to me it’s very important that at all levels we should have water and sanitation infrastructures to address this need.

The cholera epidemic is a serious issue in Katanga – we’ve been going through that for a long time, for years. And currently, from week 1 to week 42, we have recorded more than 11.687 cases of cholera with 264 deaths, which is a lot. You can see the death rate is still high, it’s 2.5%, meaning that we are really in the epidemic situation here in the Katanga province, and the most affected area is the Tanganyika district.

Even though we have humanitarian actors that are doing whatever they can to respond, we know that we still have a lot of gaps to fill to properly address this cholera epidemic in the province of Katanga.”