Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
19 August 2008
Geneva — Rising flood waters across West Africa are intensifying health risks for millions of people, and adding to the impact of the food price crisis.
International aid is needed as heavy rains forecast to last until September could exacerbate health threats for conditions including malaria, diarrhoea and other potentially fatal communicable diseases, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday.
"West Africa's annual floods bring with them not only the threat of vector-borne and communicable diseases, but it further endangers the lives of people already malnourished by the food price crisis," said Dr Eric Laroche, Assistant Director-General of WHO's Health Action in Crises Cluster.
Benin, Togo, Niger, Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso need urgent assistance. Flooding has caused widespread damage to bridges, roads, railway lines and other infrastructure vital for delivering health services and humanitarian supplies. Seasonal rains have also caused damage in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea-Bissau.
WHO is responding by providing essential medicines, assessing the health status of the vulnerable populations - particularly children, women and the elderly - and helping raise badly needed humanitarian funding.
Some USD 418 million was requested for West Africa in 2008's revised Consolidated Appeal for the region, of which USD 76 million was needed for emergency health care. To date, only 22 percent of the health funding needs have been met.
Endemic and epidemic communicable diseases are common in West Africa, with malaria being the main cause of illness and death. Meningitis, cholera and yellow fever also claim scores of lives annually and cause great human suffering, which is only expected to be intensified due to the extra strains placed by the floods on the health sector.
An estimated 5 million people also live with HIV/AIDS in the region, whose health care is further compromised by the flooding.
The destruction of agricultural lands and loss of crops aggravates the food security crisis. Several West African countries are among the 21 worldwide identified by WHO as being most at risk from the food crisis. Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso are above the global emergency threshold for malnutrition, with over 10 percent of children aged under five suffering from acute malnutrition and over 40 percent with chronic malnutrition.
In Benin, 2008 flooding has displaced at least 150 000 people and raising fears of malaria, diarrhoeal diseases and respiratory infections, especially among children. In Niger, 24 000 people have been displaced, while in Togo the figure stands at 12, 000.
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