BUJUMBURA August 18th (ABP) – The non-governmental organization (NGO) Save the Children provided assistance, on Wednesday August 16, 2023, in the 50th anniversary hall, to 159 vulnerable households, including 124 who were recently affected by cholera and 35 others from the surroundings, by offering them a kit consisting of a bucket, two cans of 20 liters each and a packet of laundry soaps, a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
That aid will enable the beneficiaries to prevent and fight against cholera which rages, from time to time, in the camps for the displaced persons of Gatumba. This was indicated by the representative of that NGO, Dr Doris Nihorimbere, before asking the beneficiaries not to sell that aid, but to use it in due form.
The representative of the Ministry of Public Health and the Fight against AIDS recalled that at the end of 2022, cholera appeared in the northern sector of the City Council and spread to the Gatumba zone and along the beach in Kajaga. To that end, the responsible minister declared it an epidemic on January 1, 2023. The ministry took matters into its own hands, together with its partners. It mobilized and trained health care providers, teachers and community animators. The epidemic has declined although a few cases are still reported in some places.
Obstacles to the effective fight against this disease remain. These are the lack of drinking water and toilets damaged by the floods. The representative of the ministry thanked the NGO Save the Children for that assistance and asked it to continue to support the government in its projects, urging the beneficiaries to make good use of the material obtained.