Nigeria Reports 359 Cholera Deaths in First Nine Months of Year

FILE PHOTO: A health worker at the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors without Borders) Cholera Treatment Center, checks intravenous fluid for a newly arrived cholera patient Ali Bakura, 3, in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria October 18, 2022. REUTERS/Christophe Van Der Perre/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A health worker at the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors without Borders) Cholera Treatment Center, checks intravenous fluid for a newly arrived cholera patient Ali Bakura, 3, in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria October 18, 2022. REUTERS/Christophe Van Der Perre/File Photo
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Nigeria Reports 359 Cholera Deaths in First Nine Months of Year

FILE PHOTO: A health worker at the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors without Borders) Cholera Treatment Center, checks intravenous fluid for a newly arrived cholera patient Ali Bakura, 3, in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria October 18, 2022. REUTERS/Christophe Van Der Perre/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A health worker at the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors without Borders) Cholera Treatment Center, checks intravenous fluid for a newly arrived cholera patient Ali Bakura, 3, in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria October 18, 2022. REUTERS/Christophe Van Der Perre/File Photo

More than 350 people have died from cholera in Nigeria in the first nine months of this year, a 239% jump from the same period last year, data from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) showed on Monday.
Cholera, a water-borne disease, is not uncommon in Nigeria where health authorities say there is a lack of potable drinking water in rural areas and urban slums, reported Reuters.
NCDC said 359 people had died between January and September compared to 106 during the same period last year.
The number of suspected cholera cases also surged to 10,837, up from 3,387 the previous year, with most of those affected being children under five years old.
Lagos, the country's commercial capital, recorded the highest number of cases, NCDC said.
Authorities in northeastern Borno said on Friday that a cholera outbreak had hit the state, which is also dealing with flooding that has displaced nearly 2 million people.



Pope Francis Slams World’s ‘Shameful Inability’ to Stop Israel-Hamas War

This overview shows destroyed buildings in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 7, 2024 on the first anniversary of the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
This overview shows destroyed buildings in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 7, 2024 on the first anniversary of the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Pope Francis Slams World’s ‘Shameful Inability’ to Stop Israel-Hamas War

This overview shows destroyed buildings in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 7, 2024 on the first anniversary of the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
This overview shows destroyed buildings in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 7, 2024 on the first anniversary of the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Pope Francis criticized on Monday what he called the "shameful inability" of the international community to end the war in the Middle East, one year after Hamas' devastating attack on Israel.

"A year ago, the fuse of hatred was lit; it did not sputter, but exploded in a spiral of violence," he said in an open letter to Catholics in the region.

"It seems that few people care about what is most needed and what is most desired: dialogue and peace," he wrote. "Violence never brings peace. History proves this, yet years and years of conflict seem to have taught us nothing."

Francis, who has also made Monday a day of fasting and prayers for peace for Catholics globally, has spoken more openly in recent weeks about the Hamas-Israel conflict, and has become more vocal in his criticism of Israel's military campaign.

On Sept. 29, the 87-year-old pontiff criticized Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as well as non-combatants, suggesting the airstrikes went "beyond morality".

Earlier in September, the pope called Israel's actions in Lebanon "unacceptable" and urged the international community to do everything possible to halt the fighting.

In his letter on Monday, Francis directly addressed Gazans: "I am with you, the people of Gaza, long embattled and in dire straits. You are in my thoughts and prayers daily."

"I am with you, who have been forced to leave your homes, to abandon schooling and work and to find a place of refuge from the bombing. ... I am with you, who are afraid to look up for fear of fire raining down from the skies," he wrote.