Five cholera cases confirmed in Mozambique
BEIRA, Mozambique: Five cases of cholera have been confirmed in Mozambique following the cyclone that ravaged the country, killing at least 468 people, a government health official said yesterday.
Cyclone Idai smashed into Mozambique on March 15, unleashing hurricane-force winds and heavy rains that flooded much of the centre of the country and then battered eastern Zimbabwe and Malawi.
The Red Cross has previously warned of a ‘ticking bomb of disease’ and called for the deployment of medicines and health professionals to avert a full-blown health disaster.
“We have five cases of cholera which have been confirmed. This is in Beira and the area around,” the health official, Ussein Isse, told journalists, referring to the city which bore the brunt of the cyclone’s force.
Cholera is a waterborne disease that thrives in conditions of poor hygiene and causes acute diarrhoea that can prove fatal if untreated.
“We were expecting cholera cases and we were prepared for this. We have put all the measures in place to try to mitigate the spread of cholera as much as we can,” said Emma Batey, a coordinator at the COSACA emergency aid consortium.
Stagnant water, decomposing bodies and lack of sanitation in overcrowded shelters in Mozambique could create breeding grounds for typhus and malaria in addition to cholera, experts say.
“There will be more cases because cholera is epidemic. When you have one case you can expect more. We are implementing preventive measures to limit the impact,” added Isse.
UN humanitarian aid chief Mark Lowcock has appealed for US$282 million (250 million euros) of relief aid over the next three months for Mozambique.
The U N’ s World Food Programme (WFP) said roughly 3,125 square kilometres of land had been swamped. Nearly three million people across Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe have been affected according to the WFP and 500,000 displaced.
More than 700 people have been killed in Mozambique and Zimbabwe and hundreds are missing.
The International Organisation for Migration has said that Cyclone Idai and its aftermath “could rank as the worst disaster to hit the region in decades”.
“In Beira city... they have five cases of malaria and 100 cases of diarrhoea. Soon we’ll have more updates, but they are still receiving other (patients),” said Isse.
“So they are taking precautions of isolating those who have diarrhoea... so it cannot spread.”
A long line of women in bright dresses waited under the baking sun in Estaquinha, 80 kilometres west of Beira, to receive emergency supplies from South African NGO Gift of the Givers Tuesday.
Environment Minister Celso Correia said around 170,000 people were living in government relief camps but insisted that conditions were improving. — AFP