Meningitis epidemic claims several lives

Several deaths have been recorded in the space of a few days due to the epicenter of the disease in Kabo, a locality in the Ouham-Fafa prefecture in the north-west of the Central African Republic.

In just a few days, several victims have been recorded, while the locality is facing an alarming health vulnerability.

“The town is besieged by the disease, and our hospital, abandoned to its fate, no longer has a doctor to look after the more than fifteen souls desperately admitted since the start of the epidemic in the town”, reports a resident of Kabot.

The disease, which was already rife in this locality, has been on the increase since the departure of the international NGO Médecins Sans Frontières from Kabot.

“The evacuation of MSF marked the beginning of a dark era for Kabo. Today, our hospital looks more like a tomb than a place of healing,” confides a nurse.

Increasingly, the population feels abandoned by the state and the international community.

“We’ve been left out in the cold. Promises of aid are like mirages in the desert”, a disillusioned local official said.

Faced with this abandonment, people are showing solidarity with each other, but their efforts are not bringing about much change.

What is happening in Kabo with meningitis is the visible face of a health system where Central African communities are left to fend for themselves.