"I can confirm 11 have died in Dhahar hospital
since the outbreak," Abdulkadir Isse, a doctor at the hospital, said. At
least 750 cases have been recorded since 10 March.
"Today [17 April], we have 400 patients in the
hospital," he said. "We had 42 cases on 13 April, which was the
highest for one day."
Most affected, apart from Dahar itself, were the
villages of Barkadaha Qol, Bali Busle, Buran and Boda all in the same district.
However, Bashir Mohamed, country director for the NGO
Horn Relief, said the situation had stabilised in the past few days. "We
have been collecting people from the outlying areas for treatment," he
added.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA-Somalia) in a report last week said AWD was spreading to rural
and pastoral settlements in the district.
Health staff, it added, were not able to deal with
increasing cases due to a limited capacity of only one doctor and two nurses.
Isse said the Somaliland
administration and Horn Relief had sent medicines and fuel. Eastern Sanaag is
claimed by both the self-declared republic
of Somaliland and the
self-declared autonomous region of Puntland.
The outbreak, according to Isse, started after people
used water that had been standing a long time and was probably contaminated.
The only borehole in the town had broken down earlier.
"The movement of pastoralists looking for water and
pasture for their livestock during the current drought may also have
contributed to the spread of the AWD," he added.
Meanwhile, the UN Special Representative for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, said he was
encouraged by the latest positive political developments taking place regarding
Somalia.
"I am particularly encouraged that President
[Abdullahi] Yusuf emphasised that he is willing to do whatever it takes to
promote peace and stability and former Speaker Sharif Hasan Shaykh Adan
declared that the Somali problem cannot be solved militarily,"
Ould-Abdallah said in a statement on 16 April.