© Nuure Weheliye/IRINDozens of people have died in a diarrhoea outbreak in and around the town of Abudwaaq, in Galgadud
Nairobi - At least
100 people have died in the past four weeks after an outbreak of acute watery diarrhoea (AWD) in and around the town of Abudwaaq, in Galgadud region of central Somalia, medical sources said on 18 November.
"Since 3 October, 100 people have died in Abudwaaq town; there are some people who have died in the villages around it but we don't have numbers for them," said Mohamed Jama, the only doctor in the area. "This is the highest mortality rate I have witnessed in my career."
Jama said that so far 500 cases of AWD had been registered in the hospital, where a treatment centre was set up. "These are the ones who made it here. We are getting reports of people dying in the outlying villages, but unfortunately we cannot reach them."
Comment: When health becomes business it often leads to human deaths, as the greedy business makers care more about profits than creating drugs that truly assist in treating conditions and diseases. And if pharmaceutical companies are not to be trusted, then it is up to us to study and find out as much as possible on alternative ways to keep us healthy.