A serious cholera epidemic has broken out in the Liberian capital of Monrovia. About a million people are at risk in an epidemic in which the fatality rate is well over double that for a so-called well-contained outbreak. The European Commission is making available a grant of 200,000 ECU to combat the disease.

The project, channelled through the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO), will be implemented by Medecins sans Frontieres-Belgique. Scheduled to last three months, the programme will involve providing personnel, medical supplies including anti-cholera kits, and the setting up of a treatment centre in the Monrovia region.

The World Health Organisation's definition of a well-contained cholera outbreak is a two percent fatality rate. According to the latest figures available from the main public hospital in Monrovia, the fatality rate there is 4.74 percent. Cases of infection have risen by 60 percent over the rate recorded a year ago.