November 27 2006 at 01:37AM
Nairobi - At least 60 children have been admitted to the main hospital in flood-hit northern Kenyan after an outbreak of malaria and diarrhoea, officials said on Sunday.
The children were admitted to Garissa Provincial Hospital, 300km north-east of the capital Nairobi, after a reported outbreak of the diseases at camps housing tens of thousands of people displaced by floods.
"We expect the number to increase," said Ismael Wango, a health officer in the hospital, the biggest referral facility in the region.
Kenyan health officials have warned of possible outbreaks of waterborne diseases in the country's flood-hit regions, where torrential rains have killed at least 80 people and displaced around 200 000 others over recent weeks.
Humanitarian groups have said around 300 000 people across the East African nation need humanitarian supplies in the coming months owing to the effects of floods.
In neighbouring Somalia, where floods have killed at least 96 people, displaced more than 300 000 and affected around a million others, health officials have also sounded the alarm for outbreaks of waterborne diseases, particularly cholera, which has already been confirmed in two areas.
In both countries the rains have destroyed farmlands, disrupted food supplies, cut off villages and washed away roads, in Somalia complicating the delivery of aid to the most vulnerable and impoverished in remote areas. - Sapa-AFP
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_i...6457678247B253
Nairobi - At least 60 children have been admitted to the main hospital in flood-hit northern Kenyan after an outbreak of malaria and diarrhoea, officials said on Sunday.
The children were admitted to Garissa Provincial Hospital, 300km north-east of the capital Nairobi, after a reported outbreak of the diseases at camps housing tens of thousands of people displaced by floods.
"We expect the number to increase," said Ismael Wango, a health officer in the hospital, the biggest referral facility in the region.
Kenyan health officials have warned of possible outbreaks of waterborne diseases in the country's flood-hit regions, where torrential rains have killed at least 80 people and displaced around 200 000 others over recent weeks.
Humanitarian groups have said around 300 000 people across the East African nation need humanitarian supplies in the coming months owing to the effects of floods.
In neighbouring Somalia, where floods have killed at least 96 people, displaced more than 300 000 and affected around a million others, health officials have also sounded the alarm for outbreaks of waterborne diseases, particularly cholera, which has already been confirmed in two areas.
In both countries the rains have destroyed farmlands, disrupted food supplies, cut off villages and washed away roads, in Somalia complicating the delivery of aid to the most vulnerable and impoverished in remote areas. - Sapa-AFP
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_i...6457678247B253