Kenya: UN warns of disease following deadly floods

By Fatih Erel

GENEVA (AA) - The UN on Friday warned about disease outbreaks following floods in Kenya this week which displaced more than 260,000 people and killed at least 100.

"The major humanitarian concern, beyond the displacement, is disease outbreaks, particularly cholera and chikungunya, a mosquito-borne disease," Jens Laerke, the spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told a press conference at the UN in Geneva.

Noting nearly 3,000 cholera cases, including 55 deaths, by the end of April in Kenya, Laerke warned that flooding would exacerbate cholera outbreaks and increase the risk of vector-borne diseases, which also include malaria and dengue fever.

The heavy rains and flooding have also affected neighboring Somalia.

In Somalia, some 215,000 people have been displaced by heavy rains and flooding in the Juba and Shabelle river basins, he said.

"Overall, 630,000 people have been affected by flash floods and the Juba and Shabelle rivers bursting their banks," he added.