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Thursday, December 8, 2011

Diarrhoea claims 183 children in the past three months in Botswana

Via Xinhua :

" Botswana government announced that the outbreak of diarrhoea in the past three months across Botswana has claimed the lives of 183 children under the age of five.

According to local weekly The Botswana Gazzette on Wednesday, Assistant Health Minister Gaotlhaetse Matlhabaphiri revealed this when responding to a question in Parliament. He said the Health Ministry had consulted the World Health Organization (WHO) on how to reduce the number of deaths.

According to the statistics, there were 171,280 cases of diarrhoea between 2006 and 2011. In the period of five years, about 1,820 children under the age of five years died due to the disease. The highest number of deaths occurred in 2006 when 54,296 cases were reported with 649 deaths.

Matlhabaphiri said the occurrence of diarrhoea in Botswana is influenced by rainfall and shortage of water in some areas; limited access to water contributes to poor hygiene."

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