Cholera outbreak fight on track: Govt

ZIMBABWE is on track to eliminate the cholera outbreak that has been in existence for a year and saw an increase in cases during the festive season prompting the government to introduce measures to curb its spread including vaccination, an official has said.

About 22 790 suspected cholera cases and 501 confirmed and suspected deaths have been recorded across Zimbabwe's 10 provinces since the waterborne disease was reported in Chegutu, Mashonaland West province, in February last year.

Addressing journalists in Harare yesterday, Health and Child Care ministry cholera incident manager Isaac Phiri said the government was now targeting Manicaland province and other affected areas after a successful vaccination campaign which was launched in Harare last week.

“The vaccines that we received yesterday were meant for Mutare Rural, so they're going to Mutare. As of tomorrow, we will start giving you the updates from Mutare Rural and Mutare Urban, some districts have already received the vaccine in that province,” he said.

Phiri said several interventions were being made in terms of cholera response and results have started to show.

“We have started already, to see the effect of the current vaccination in the areas that were vaccinated. Kuwadzana for example, they reported five cases, Budiriro, six cases, yesterday. This is a small, small number from the big numbers that they were receiving.”

He said the government was distributing water treatment chemicals at the point of use.

“Our health promoters are on the ground on a day-to-day basis impacting health education in terms of control,” he said adding that officials were also engaging community leaders in rural areas.

The government has also established cholera treatment camps as cases are reported for people to access treatment where the cases are emanating from.

“Vaccination uptake, Harare, for example, yesterday they were doing a mop-up campaign because they used all the vaccines that were distributed to them. We are looking at 89%-90% uptake so far in the targeted areas that we are going to,” he said.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it would conduct house-to-house operational strategy during the cholera vaccination roll-out to avoid further spread of the disease.

The campaign is set to target cholera hotspots amid vaccine shortage concerns which were earlier expressed by the government.

In a statement, WHO said the introduction of the vaccine was another milestone which targeted to curb the spread of the scourge as they aimed to vaccinate an average of 150 people per day.

“The main operational strategy used in this campaign is house-to-house to minimise gatherings and further spread of the disease.

This is complemented by fixed vaccination points in all health facilities within the catchment area. Each vaccination team is composed of three people, expected to vaccinate an average of 150 persons per day.

“Ahead of the start of the vaccination, a comprehensive social mobilisation campaign was rolled-out to sensitise the population and generate demand for the vaccine.”

The UN agency said the first three batches of 892 286 cholera vaccine doses arrived via air freight on January 25 and 27 and were immediately dispatched to the most affected districts in the country.

The Euvichol-Plus vaccine produced by EuBiologics targets 2,3 million people aged one year and above.

WHO encouraged the public to adhere to hygienic practices even after receiving the vaccine dosages.