Cholera outbreak in Somalia spreads rapidly after floods
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has issued an alert following a cholera outbreak spreading rapidly in the central Somali region of Hiraan following heavy flooding caused by El Niño rains.
Outbreak is a serious threat to public health, with many cases being severe and affecting the most vulnerable populations. More than 55% of the 980 reported cases are of children under the age of five. Since January 2024, several districts in Somalia have been severely affected by the cholera outbreak. More than half of the cases reported in January came from the Hiraan region, mainly due to the outbreak of the disease in Beledweyne. The poor people of Somalia are already suffering the effects of the recent floods that affected thousands of families and destroyed farms. In 2023, Somalia experienced a 15% increase in cholera cases reaching a total of 18,304 cases from January to December, an alarming increase from the previous year. There are serious concerns about the most vulnerable as at least 10,000 cases of cholera are children under the age of five. In November 2023, floods in Somalia killed 32 people and displaced hundreds of thousands. According to the UN, the number of victims may exceed 1.6 million, and 1.5 million hectares of agricultural land were destroyed. El Niño is usually associated with increased heat waves around the world, as well as droughts in some parts of the world and heavy rains in others.
