Médecins Sans Frontières has set up a cholera treatment centre at the entrance of Kikula district, a poor neighbourhood from which most of the patients originate. The risk of contagion is very high and everyone must stick to strict protection measures, both at the entrance and at the exit of the treatment centre. Moreover, access is restricted and only relatives of children and old people are allowed into the centre.

Outside the treatment centre, often several dozens of people are waiting anxiously for news of their relatives admitted into the centre. "We try to reassure family members”, explains Dieudonné Bokwala, in charge of community education. “We also take the opportunity to explain some basic rules for protection against cholera: boiling water, cleaning food, washing hands thoroughly before eating, etcetera.”

Dieudonné has trained a team of thirty people in the town’s various districts in order to deliver the awareness-raising messages to the heart of the communities. “They are my community intermediaries. They gather families together and circulate the messages on cholera prevention”, says Dieudonné. “They also draw attention to the symptoms of the disease and the importance of bringing patients to the centre quickly." At present, too many patients are still arriving in the treatment centre too late. At the beginning of February, 21 people died in one week.

The treatment and isolation of patients is now secured, but the epidemic has its roots in the heart of the Kikula community. “The public system of water distribution is out of order,” explains Médecins Sans Frontières’s logistician, Azaad Alocco. “With the rainy season, the rubbish and excrement contaminate the water sources and wells. This is where the people go to get water for drinking, cooking and washing. They have no choice, because they haven't had access to clean water for years.”

Médecins Sans Frontières is putting in place a system of safe water supply in response to the outbreak. However, water supply is a major problem which can only be addressed by investment in infrastructure in the long run, in Likasi and other cities of Katanga.

The latest figures for the outbreaks in Likasi and Lubumbashi is of 4623 patients, including over 110 deaths.

In Likasi and Lubumbashi, 40 members of Médecins Sans Frontières' emergency team are working alongside more than 200 locally recruited people to stem the cholera outbreak and treat infected people.