Kinsley Kobo, AfricaNews reporter Abidjan, Ivory Coast
The World Food Program (WFP) has begun emergency operations in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mauritania, distributing food rations to the victims of flooding in those countries. About 50,000 victims have benefited from the exercise since its inception on Friday, according to the U.N. relief agency.
The WFP said it would be providing food for some 125,000 people in Burkina Faso, where the floods wreaked the gravest havoc following the recent deluge that hit the West African sub-region, , AFP said.
More than 110,000 people were displaced in the capital, Ouagadougou and seven deaths were reported.
The country’s main hospital has been shut down due to flooding, thereby interrupting dialysis treatments and preventing HIV diagnosis. Equipment in the HIV laboratory used to diagnose the disease countrywide has been destroyed.
The health minister, Seydou Bonda confirmed on state radio that the government had requested emergency assistance from The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
In Niger, the WFP distributed assistance on Monday to some 41,000 people after a dike near Agadez (north) burst.
The relief agency said it plans to distribute food to about 11,500 people on the Mauritanian border town of Rosso, another theatre of flooding.
The recent torrential rains and flooding have affected 600,000 people in 16 West African nations, according to the United Nations.
The worst hit has been Burkina Faso, Senegal, Ghana and Niger. So far, a total of 159 people have died.
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