DR Congo cholera outbreak kills 1,800, WHO says

Cholera has killed around 1,800 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo so far this year, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, as the country also battles its deadliest Ebola outbreak.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said about 60,000 cholera cases had been recorded and described it as the country's “worst cholera outbreak in decades.”

Most infections have been detected in the eastern provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, Tedros said. Both provinces have long faced armed groups and are partly under the control of the Rwanda-backed M23 militia.

Tedros said cases were also following the Congo river basin, raising concern that the outbreak could stretch to Kinshasa. WHO also warned that the rainy season could help the waterborne disease spread, including in the densely populated capital.

WHO said conflict and poor access in remote areas were hampering the response to both cholera and Ebola. Tedros said distributing Ebola vaccines, especially in the conflict-hit east, would be “very, very important.”