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Togo: emergency health programme aids flood victims

12-11-2010 News Release

Lomé (ICRC) – The Togolese Red Cross, supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross, has launched a health education campaign and other activities to help over 200,000 people affected by the flooding that recently hit south-east Togo and the suburbs of the capital, Lomé.

Jacques Maradan coordinates the water and sanitation programme of the ICRC regional delegation in Abidjan. As he explains, "After heavy flooding, it's essential to reduce the risk of disease by taking extra hygiene precautions."

Around 100 Togolese Red Cross volunteers specially trained in community health work are going door-to-door throughout the nine worst-affected areas of Lomé's eastern suburbs. Their job is to explain the importance of washing hands, and of treating water with bleach or chlorine before drinking it. Others are passing on the same message from three stands in the affected areas.

The Togolese Red Cross will be distributing household items to 5,000 people in twelve towns and villages in south-east Togo worst hit by the flooding. The goods will include buckets, soap, sleeping mats, lengths of cloth to use for clothing, feminine hygiene kits, cooking kits, tarpaulins and mosquito nets.

For further information, please contact:
Kelnor Panglungtshang, ICRC Abidjan, tel: +225 22 40 00 70
Emmanuel Placca, ICRC Lomé, tel: +228 911 48 59