CHOLERA UPSET: COULD WATER POLLUTION BE THE SOURCE OF THIS FIERY ERUPTION?
‘We shall ensure that people are provided with safe drinking water regardless of where they are located as part of long term measures of preventing cholera outbreaks.’
TBy EDWARD MWANGO HE Cholera plague that has hit Lusaka and other far-flung areas has outstretched abundant disagreements and immeasurable debate concerning the source and whereabouts of this deadly water-borne disease.
While some ‘arm-chair’ disparagers are busy trying to woo redundant support on the matter by politicising the issue, health experts and some government officials are doing the opposite by encouraging citizens with compliance following interventions put in place to thwart the further spread of cholera.
The UPND to be precise, has since been fingered by PF Deputy Secretary-General, Mumbi Phiri, as being the loudest in trying to gain political mileage over the deadly disease.
‘It is cold-hearted for UPND to try to gain political capital out of this disease which has so far claimed some lives, the PF Deputy Secretary-General complained in a recent statement.
Some sections of society have taken to social media to misconstrue some of the joint efforts put in place by government to curb the disease.
In this regard, some selfdeclared ‘prophets’ think that a curse had been spelt on Zambian leaders who now needed to repent and forgive some people, claiming that no wonder calamities such as armyworms, cholera, serial killings etc, were becoming centre stage.
It has now become common for people in affected areas to raise pertinent issues surrounding the disease while others are thinking outside the box as to what is the source of the latest outbreak in Lusaka, which has so far recorded over 2,000 cases and claimed more than 60 lives.
However mixed reactions grip Zambians as others blame street vending as the major source while experts argue that the source could be contaminated water.
In some townships hard hit by cholera namely Kanyama, George and Chipata, residents have made it a routine to depend on shallow wells as a source of water.
It is in these townships where unplanned structures have taken centre-stage with the majority populace using pit latrines which water experts believe polluted ground water resulting in the commodity being contaminated with faecal matter.
This could be evident as President Edgar Lungu who recently visited cholera patients at Heroes Stadium in Lusaka observed that most of the patients that were suffering from the cholera disease might have been consuming contaminated water coupled brought about due to poor management of waste disposal.
‘One of the immediate measures is to provide people with safe and clean drinking water and to sensitise communities on proper waste management.
‘We shall ensure that people are provided with safe drinking water regardless of where they are located as part of long term measures of preventing cholera outbreaks.’ the President told Journalists.
A report by the American pub-
‘It is cold-hearted for UPND to try to gain political capital out of this disease which has so far claimed some lives’
lic health association states that because cholera is a water- and foodborne disease, it is spread through faecal–oral transmission with contaminated water being the common vehicle of transmission.
In a previous spatial risk factor analysis of a cholera outbreak in one of the peri-urban areas of Lusaka, we reported that a higher incident rate of cholera was statistically associated with lower coverage of effective drainage systems and latrines.
‘Because the drainage systems were not strategically planned but were installed as supplements to road construction, they are segmented and poorly integrated and during the rain seasons, these inadequate drainage networks cause substantial flooding, which can result in the spread of pathogens through runoff, increasing the risk of contamination.,’ the report reads in part.
And a UNICEF Zambia fact sheet on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene states that 4.8 million people (36 percent) are without access to clean water while 6.6 million people (50 percent) are without access to sanitation facilities.
And more than 25 percent of basic schools do not have access to safe water supply and sanitation.
The UNICEF report further states that in Zambia, more than one third of the population does not have access to clean water and more than half lacks access to proper sanitation facilities.
Water and sanitation facilities in basic schools are generally poor and not having access to clean and safe water leads to diseases like diarrhoea and cholera, among others.
Accordingly, UNICEF’s School Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Education programme focuses on basic and community schools which lack safe water and sanitation facilities. Safe water supply and gender-segregated child-friendly sanitation facilities, including adequate urinals for both boys and girls, are provided along with hand-washing facilities. These are the programme’s key interventions to encourage school enrolment and completion
Meanwhile a UNICEF situation report dubbed: ‘ZAMBIA CHOLERA OUTBREAK’ indicates that since 5 February 2016, 1,179 cumulative cases of cholera had been reported in Zambia.
(953 in Lusaka city and 8 in Rufunsa district in Lusaka Province; 23 in Chibombo and 2 in Kabwe in Central Province, 66 in Nsama in Northern Province, 28 in Ndola in Copperbelt Province and 50 in Mazabuka and 49 in Monze districts in the Southern Province.
The cases in both districts of the Southern Province started at the end of Epidemiological Week 16. One hundred and ninety-two (192) of the cases reported had been laboratory confirmed as cholera.
Thirty one (31) cholera related deaths had been reported since the onset of the outbreak, of which eight were children. As of 2 May 2016, there were 42 cases of cholera under treatment (15 in Lusaka Province, 3 in Copperbelt Province and 24 in Southern province.
Accordingly, sources of new infections are linked to contaminated water, contaminated food sold in the street and inadequate sanitation (with only 55% households having latrines in the affected peri-urban areas in Lusaka), which is exacerbated by low levels of hygiene practices.
And the Health Press of the Zambia National Public Health Institute states that most of the cholera outbreaks in Zambia had been recorded from fishing camps and peri-urban areas of the Copperbelt, Luapula and Lusaka provinces.
These cases had been recorded every year in the Lukanga fishing camps in the last five years.
A suspected cholera outbreak was reported at the Lukanga swamps / fishing camp in Kapiri Mposhi district in September, 2016.
All cases that met the cholera case definition as prescribed in the Integrated Diseases Surveillance and Response guidelines were admitted and treated using WHO standard protocols.
A total of 27 patients all adult except 1, 26 of whom were male were seen at the cholera treatment centre. Two facility deaths were recorded during the outbreak and all cases were linked to the fishing camps, lack of clean drinking water and poor sanitary conditions among other factors. The first outbreak of cholera in Zambia was reported in 1977/1978, then cases appeared again in 1982/1983.
The first major outbreak occurred in 1990 and lasted until 1993. Since then, cholera cases were registered every year except in 1994 and 1995[1].
As these glaring statistics are unleashed, it is imperative for Zambians, regardless of political affiliation, to join the men and women in uniform and authorities in fighting the cholera battle with unison as President Lungu positions himself to realise the immediate trials to offer Zambians with safe and clean drinking water. It follows therefore that a consistent push for hygiene among the populace is key to keeping the cholera disease at bay.
A step in the right direction has already been taken.