Suspected diarrhoea kills 279 in Sudan

Anti-diabetes drug cuts heart disease risk

KHARTOUM, June 13, (AFP): At least 279 people have died and thousands sickened in Sudan from suspected acute diarrhoea since August, UN agencies said Monday, raising health concerns in the country ahead of the rainy season.

About 87 percent of those affected are children aged five and above from across 11 states including Khartoum, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Office (OCHA), said in its latest bulletin.

“Between mid-August 2016 and 2 June 2017 almost 15,000 suspected cases of acute watery diarrhoea were reported in Sudan, including 279 deaths,” OCHA said quoting figures provided by the World Health Organisation and Sudanese health ministry.

OCHA said 48 percent of the reported cases are males and 52 percent females. It said the outbreak is currently active in states like Khartoum, White Nile, Senar and North Kordofan.

A health official said that new cases were being reported every day.

Hundreds of people suffer from water-borne diseases every year across Sudan given the lack of access to clean drinking water.

The country’s dilapidated health care sector further aggravates the situation, especially in rural areas during the rainy season. Also: WASHINGTON: An anti-diabetic drug that lowers blood sugar levels for type 2 diabetes sufferers also significantly cuts the risk of cardiovascular and kidney disease, according to a study published Monday.

The findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, came in a clinical trial of more than 10,000 patients in 30 countries, using canagliflozin. It found the drug reduced the overall risk of cardiovascular disease by 14 percent and reduced the risk of heart failure hospitalization by 33 percent. It was also shown to have a significant impact — 40 percent less — on the progression of a serious kidney decline.