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More than 100 children in the Democratic Republic of Congo have died of measles since the beginning of the year, an epidemic that has added to the deadly epidemics of cholera and Ebola, the UN announced Wednesday.
Health officials in the southeastern provinces of Lualaba and Lomami reported 7,175 measles cases in January, "including at least 137 deaths," the MONUSCO peacekeeping mission said in a statement. l & # 39; UN.
More than 80 percent of the deaths were children under five, he added.
Experts blamed lack of vaccination, inadequate medical facilities and malnutrition among young people.
MONUSCO added that 1,936 cholera cases had been recorded since the beginning of the year in Katanga, Lomami and Tanganyika.
The lack of drinking water, sanitation and medical care hamper the fight against the disease, he added.
"We do not talk much about these two epidemics" and yet, they are "also very worrying and deadly," the report said.
Last weekend, the government announced that more than 500 people had died of the Ebola virus since last August in North Kivu and Ituri, in the east of the country.
Poor security conditions in the region, where armed rebels have terrorized the population for years, have complicated efforts to stem the epidemic.
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