Thaddée Ndikumana, Minister of Public Health says the number of people suffering from cholera continues to increase since it was declared last July. “At least two cases of cholera are recorded per day,” says Minister Ndikumana.
Minister Thaddée Ndikumana: “The poor sanitation is the major cause of cholera”
He also says Bujumbura neighborhoods are the most affected. “The poor sanitation is a major cause of cholera. Citizens don’t have drinking water in their residential areas. Ngagara and Kamenge neighborhoods are the most affected,” he says.
Minister Ndikumana adds that citizens from old neighborhoods in Bujumbura city receive water mixed with waste from old manholes. “People will continue suffering as long as those old manholes are not replaced,” he says.
Citizens from section III and V in Ngagara neighborhood say they don’t regularly receive drinking water. “We spent one month without drinking water”, says a mother met in section V. She adds that two people from the same family were reported to be suffering from the disease on 10 September. “We fear that the disease will affect many people as no hygienic measures have so far been introduced,” she says.
Mr Ndikumana says that the Health Ministry is working in close collaboration with Bujumbura city administration and the company supplying water-Regideso to find a solution to the lack of drinking water. He also says the issue has been submitted to the office of Burundi president.
According to WHO, researchers have estimated between 1.3 million and 4.0 million cases of cholera and between 21 000 and 143 000 deaths worldwide due to cholera each year.
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