SADC Ministers meet over deadliest cholera outbreak as waterAid calls for action
WATERAID Southern Africa Regional Office has strongly called for an end to the water and sanitation crisis in the region as a means to combat cholera that is currently ravaging the region.
An emergency meeting of Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Health, Environment, Water and Sanitation Ministers in Lilongwe, Malawi, has since commenced.
In a call for action ahead of the emergency meeting, WaterAid’s Southern Africa Regional Office is calling on governments to urgently focus on addressing the root causes of cholera which is spread due to unclean water, poor sanitation and hygiene.
WaterAid’s Regional Director, Southern Africa, Robert Kampala is concerned that the disease has mostly affected women and girls in SADC countries.
Mr. Kampala said while the world celebrated the 2023 women’s day on Wednesday, several countries in the SADC region were experiencing the worst outbreak of cholera in as many years.
The WaterAid’s Regional Director, Southern Africa, says the organization is further saddened that cholera had also spread to Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
“Due to climate change and poor WASH infrastructure and hygiene practices/ behaviors, cholera outbreaks have become a frequent occurrence in the SADC region in recent years and especially during the rainy seasons. The outbreaks are deadlier affecting larger numbers of people including loss of thousands of lives each year.
In Mozambique, cholera has now spread to more than 18 districts with 41 deaths and more than 7300 cases reported while in Zambia, six districts have ongoing cholera outbreaks in two provinces. As at 4th March 2023, the country recorded a cumulative 212 cases including 5 deaths with South Africa recording 6 cases.
Meanwhile, WaterAid Zambia Acting Country Director Leah Mtolo called for increased investment in WASH in Zambia.
Ms Mtolo says poor water, sanitation and hygiene are the main causes of infections like cholera and diarrhoea and a leading cause of death for children under the age of five (UNICEF).
She adds that Zambia currently seats in the top 30 countries in the world with the highest number of deaths due to diarrhoea diseases.
“An estimated 9.7% of deaths are due to diarrhoea diseases. In 2021 alone, 1.2million cases were recorded. The age adjusted death rate due to diarrhoea stands at 54.75 per 100000 of the population (Ministry of Health, 2021, Disease Burden report),” she said.