Twenty-seven cases of cholera have been reported in Uganda's northern district of Kitgum, leaving five people in the hospitals.

Chairman of the district Nahaman Ojwe was quoted by Daily Monitor as saying on Tuesday the outbreak was noticed on April 19 after five people collapsed in Agoro market.

He said the outbreak is a spill over from epidemic areas of neighboring southern Sudan, since people from there had been shopping from Agoro market.

Ojwe said Kitgum district authorities had imposed a quarantine, and stopped movement of people from southern Sudan and other sub- counties in the district into Agoro sub-county.

He said a task force comprising international and local non- governmental organizations operating in the district had been formed to handle the situation.

He appealed to the Ministry of Health to move fast to establish isolation wards in all health units in the area.

A big percentage of the population in this district lives in heavily congested internally displaced persons (IDP) camps with deplorable sanitation facilities.

Recent statistics indicate there are 284,100 IDPs in the district. Neighboring Gulu district has the highest number of IDPs, estimated at 503,400 while Pader district has 326,730 IDPs.

The Ugandan government recently embarked on a program to decongest the camps in the region.

The region has been facing a 20 year-old rebellion that has left tens of thousands of people dead and over 1.4 million people displaced from their homes and are now living in congested IDP camps.

Source: Xinhua