Ndola records 40,000 diarrhea cases

…from Jan to Sept

NDOLA has recorded close to 40,000 diarrhea cases from January to September this year.

According to the Ndola

City Council, this could be indirectly attributed to poor hand hygiene in the Copperbelt city.

Ndola Mayor, Amon Chisenga, said the city recorded 39, 515 cases, out of which 9,428 were children below the age of five.

"These figures are alarming and there is need for all of us to understand that hand washing habits form the foundation of our status on being healthy and productive,” he said.

He stressed the need for the District Health Office and the Public Health Department of the council to intensify their health education programmes in order to reduce diarrhea cases.

Meanwhile, the local authority in collaboration with the USAID-Scale up Nutrition Technical Assistant (SUNTA) is scheduled to rehabilitate 50 non-functional communal water points in an effort to reduce the water deficiencies in the city.

Mr Chisenga said that he was hopeful that more stakeholders would come on board to complement the efforts of bridging vulnerability gaps such as lack of access to water.

"Making hand hygiene accessible for all required a multi-faceted, society-wide approach, and such projects would help make that a reality," he said.

Mr Chisenga stressed there was always room to collaborate with Ndola City Council in order to provide services to the people.

He challenged stakeholders to help communities in which they operated in order to contribute to the achievements of sustainable development components.

The Mayor also advised all shop owners and public places operators that the provision of hand washing facilities and refuse bins would remain mandatory as a minimum requirement to prevent diseases.

This, he said, would encourage change in behavior of the communities towards the importance of proper hand hygiene and sanitation.