Disease, cold kill over 100 Afghans, officials say

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Cold weather and an outbreak of whooping cough have killed nearly 130 people, most of them children, in central and western Afghanistan in the past week, officials said on Tuesday.

Ninety people died in three districts of the remote central province of Ghor, said its Deputy Governor Ikramuddin, adding that 350 people were infected by whooping cough in the province.

"Over the past week, 90 people have died from cold weather and whooping cough in Ghor,” he said. “We also have reports that some villages have been buried under snow but for the moment we have no casualty numbers for this.”

Another 39 people have died from illnesses related to cold weather in the neighbouring province of Herat, provincial spokesman Mohammadullah Afzali said.

Ikramuddin said most of the dirt roads in the rugged province of Ghor had been cut off by heavy snow and urged the central government to send medical aid to prevent more deaths.

The latest deaths bring the number of fatalities attributed to cold weather in Afghanistan in the past month to nearly 200.

A spokesman for the United Nations Children’s Fund said he had reports of 50 deaths in Ghor caused by measles, whooping cough and other respiratory illnesses in the past week to 10 days, but had received no reports from Herat.

UNICEF says it has delivered thousands of doses of measles and diphtheria vaccines to Ghor as well as baby blankets and sweaters after measles and whooping cough outbreaks there.

Afghanistan has received snowfall throughout the country this winter following several years of drought.

UNICEF spokesman Eddie Carwardine said it was difficult to tell if problems were worse than in previous winters, but poor communications in remote districts meant the numbers of people affected countrywide could be higher than reported.

“There is a growing concern,” he said, “but is difficult to get accurate information because of the bad weather. We are trying to get medicines and vaccines out to NGO partners working in outlying areas.”

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