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For more information, please contact: Crystal Wells Concern Worldwide Office +1 212 557-8000 | Mobile +1 617 913-0794 crystal.wells@concern.net

Concern Worldwide Launches Large-Scale Emergency Response to Curb Deadly Cholera Outbreak in Sierra Leone
New York, August 28, 2012 The international humanitarian organization Concern Worldwide is launching a large-scale emergency response to contain a massive outbreak of cholera that is sweeping across Sierra Leone, killing an average of five people per day. Concern will work to reach more than 250,000 people across the capital, Freetown, and the rural district of Tonkolili with lifesaving safe drinking water and other emergency relief items essential to preventing the spread of cholera. The World Health Organization (WHO) has now confirmed that 10 of the 13 districts in Sierra Leone are affected, said Paul OBrien, Overseas Director for Concern Worldwide. Our immediate priority is to stem the spread of the epidemic and prevent the further loss of life. At least 218 people have died and 12,148 people have been infected by the disease after a particularly heavy rain season flooded a number of regions where the majority of people lack even basic sanitation, leaving them dangerously exposed. The outbreak, which the World Health Organization has indicated has yet to reach its peak, is already twice as severe as the last major outbreak that occurred in 2007. President Ernest Bai Koroma declared a state of emergency in Sierra Leone last week. Our response is focused in the two most heavily affected districts of Western Area and Tonkolili District, said OBrien. We are treating contaminated water and have equipped an army of community health volunteers with the supplies to help prevent a deterioration of the crisis. Cholera is contracted by ingesting contaminated water or foodcaused by feces in the water supplyand quickly deteriorates into severe dehydration, usually from acute diarrhea and vomiting. In extreme cases, death can occur within hours if basic, cost-effective supplies are not available. Concern will focus on distributing cholera prevention kits and providing safe drinking water to communities exposed to the disease. The kits include Oral Rehydration Saltswhich replace electrolytes lost with vomiting and diarrheaand materials to prevent the spread of cholera such as aquatabs to chlorinate water, jerry cans to safely store clean water, and cleaning and laundry soaps to improve sanitation levels. Concern has also trained hundreds of volunteers how to prevent, diagnose, treat, and refer cases of cholera, providing critical front-line care within at-risk communities. On the ground in Sierra Leone since 1996, Concern is working in Freetown as well as the three rural districts of Tonkolili, Kono, and Kailahun. Concern currently has 130 national and 15 international staff working in the country. About Concern Worldwide Concern Worldwide is an international, non-governmental humanitarian organization dedicated to reducing extreme poverty, with more than 3,200 personnel working in 25 of the poorest countries in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. Concern Worldwide targets the root causes of extreme poverty through programs in health, education, livelihoods and microfinance, HIV and AIDS, and emergency response, directly reaching more than 9.5 million people. For more information, please visit www.concernusa.org or follow us on Twitter at @Concern. ###