UNHCR Working To Contain Cholera Outbreak Among Malian Refugees In Niger

“The United Nations refugee agency [UNHCR] said that they are working to contain a cholera outbreak in Niger in a refugee camp for people fleeing the conflict in Mali,” the Associated Press/Washington Post reports. “On May 11, the government of Niger declared a cholera epidemic,” the news agency writes, noting, “Last year, a total of 110 people died throughout Niger” from cholera (5/21). UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming said at a press briefing in Geneva on Tuesday, “We are responding to the outbreak in the camps by implementing emergency health and sanitation measures, such as increasing the supply of clean water,” as well as “working to spread public health messages in the camps through sensitization campaigns,” according to a UNHCR statement. “Niger is currently hosting some 50,000 Malian refugees,” after “[t]hey fled a conflict in the North of their country which started in early 2012,” the statement notes (5/21).

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