JOHANNESBURG, 1 April 2008 (IRIN) - Widespread flooding in southern Angola has been a major contributor to the 4,500 reported cases of cholera this year, of which 150 cases were fatal.

According to figures published by Angola's health ministry on March 31, there were 590 new cases reported in the week leading up to the report, up from the 503 cases reported in the previous week.

World Health Organisation (WHO) spokesman Jose Caetano told IRIN "The situation (in Angola) was worsening due to rain.

Cholera is a waterborne intestinal infection causing acute diarrhoea and vomiting and, if left untreated, can cause death from dehydration within 24 hours, although, according to the WHO, cholera is "an easily treatable disease" cured with rehydration salts.

About half of the cholera cases have been reported from Angola's southern provinces of Cunene and Huila, which have been hard hit by floods.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, over 81,400 people had been affected by flooding and more than 56,000 were displaced.

"The flooding caught everyone by surprise," Adam Berthoud, Regional Public Health Advisor for Oxfam, told IRIN.

Limited access to areas cut off by the floods had initially severely hampered assistance but the aid agency and government response had already resulted in a reduction of case fatalities.

"Oxfam has been working with the Angolan Red Cross, UNICEF and government stakeholders to ensure access to clean water, sanitation and key hygiene items such as soap and buckets," Bertohoud said.

Floodwaters were expected to recede in the coming weeks, but "health risks will escalate," Bertohoud said.

"Stagnant ponds create further breeding sites for malaria-carrying mosquitoes, - wells and latrines have been contaminated with floodwater, and local communities are cut off from their usual water sources. Without clean water families hit by the floods are at serious risk of death and disease."

A persistent problem

"Usually cholera is related to heavy rainfall," Berthoud said, but the incidence of the disease was increased by underlying problems, such as poor sanitation and hygiene practices and the lack of access to potable water.

"The government of Angola, which faced serious national cholera outbreaks in both 2006 and 2007, has made significant strides in its cholera response capacity through building up contingency plans and stocks," he said.

According to the WHO, a year-long cholera outbreak that began in February 2006 resulted in 70,000 reported cases of cholera and nearly 3,000 deaths.

Angola, sub-Saharan Africa's second largest oil producer after Nigeria, is currently in the middle of a multibillion-dollar reconstruction boom fuelled by record high oil windfalls. Yet according to the UNDP, despite its oil wealth most citizens still subsist on less than US$1 a day.

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