67 people have died since July in Niger due to a cholera outbreak, out of thousands of cases that were recorded, the UN said Thursday, citing health ministry figures.
The epicentre is the southern Maradi region, near the border with Nigeria where a separate outbreak has claimed nearly 100 lives, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said.
Fifty-five of the deaths were recorded in Maradi, where there were a total of 3,232 cases, it said. Other affected areas include; Dosso in the south, Tahoua in the west and the central region of Zinder.
Recent UN reports show that more than 500 people had died from cholera in the Lake Chad region since the start of the year, proving to the worst outbreak to hit the area in four years. More than six million people could possibly be affected by the outbreak without urgent action to control it.
