Twenty-eight children have died from lead poisoning from illegal gold mining in a remote west-central village, Nigerian health officials <g data-gr-id="13">said,</g> while doctors still are treating thousands from an earlier outbreak.
Dozens more children are sick in the Rafi area of Niger state and action must be taken quickly if they are not to suffer irreversible neurological damage, Michelle Chouinard, Nigeria director for Doctors Without Borders, told The Associated Press today.
Her organisation still is treating children from a 2010 mass lead poisoning, in Zamfara state, that killed 400 kids and left many paralyzed, blind and with learning disabilities because of a three-year delay in government funding for a cleanup. Chouinard said they have cured 2,688 of 5,451 people infected and hope to complete treatment next year. They have had <g data-gr-id="17">most</g> success in the worst-affected village of <g data-gr-id="16">Bagega</g>, where all but 189 of 1,426 people have had the lead leached from their bodies.
Junior Health Minister Fidelis Nwankwo said all those newly infected in neighboring Niger state are under 5 with 43 per cent of the 65 sickened children dying.