Residents have a duty to safeguard their own health

EXPERTS say the most important way to avoid diarrhoea is to avoid coming into contact with infectious agents that can cause it. This means that good hand washing and hygiene are very important.

“Also, if you travel, you should take the following precautions: drink only bottled water, even for tooth brushing. Avoid eating food from street vendors. Avoid ice made with tap water. Eat only those fruits or vegetables that are cooked or can be peeled. Be sure that all foods you eat are thoroughly cooked and served steaming hot. Pre-packaged food is usually safe to consume (but check expiration date). Never eat raw or undercooked meat or seafood.” The precautions also apply to anyone, travelling or not.

Last week, we reported that a vicious diarrhoea outbreak has hit Bulawayo suburbs with more than 1 000 cases having been recorded so far. Cases in the latest outbreak were first recorded in the city’s Ward 17 in Pumula suburb in July, but the outbreak has since spread across the city. Speaking to Sunday News, Bulawayo Health Services Department Divisional Environmental Health Officer Dr Nhlonipho Sibanda said the outbreak had spread to all the city’s clinical districts including Emakhandeni, Nkulumane and Northern suburbs clinics. She said the Bulawayo City Council had since waivered all council fees for diarrhoea cases as part of measures to try and contain the situation, urging ill residents to visit their nearest clinics.

“We are experiencing a surge in diarrhoea cases. Gastro intestinal disease has been evolving really fast and we are concerned. It all started on July 11, 2022 when through our surveillance systems we received a report that pointed to the fact that there could be a diarrhoea outbreak in Pumula, this is where diarrhoea started from in terms of being detected. If you notice Bulawayo is an area that does not have much water, so diarrhoea is either sometimes due to poor quality of water or scarcity of water, so in Bulawayo the highest risk factor has been due to the scarcity of water in those areas. When the cases were picked up in those areas, the rapid response team were dispatched and they quickly started following up on those factors,” she said.

Of worry is that Dr Sibanda said residents were also not taking diarrhoea seriously and were reluctant to visit health facilities with most cases being found at home by rapid response teams. She said the city was using water bowsers to deliver clean water to residents in the city’s diarrhoea hotspots.

Bulawayo Progressive Residents’ Association secretary for administration Mr Thembelani Dube said the city’s diarrhoea outbreak was due to residents resorting to unsafe alternatives of water as the city has an ongoing 72-hour water shedding programme.

Diarrhoea is a serious hazard that has claimed a lot of lives in the city and beyond in the past, and we urge authorities to act swiftly to arrest its spread. However, it is also the duty of residents to follow health guidelines to stop the spread of the disease. It will be folly for residents to just blame council for water shortages, and not follow health guidelines to protect themselves from waterborne diseases.

Bulawayo has introduced water shedding to preserve the remaining water in the city’s supply dams. This has seen almost all suburbs going for up to about three days per week without tap water, as per schedule. While it is the duty of council to source water and make sure that taps do not run dry, we repeat, residents have a duty to safeguard their own health, and also take precautionary action to look after children, the elderly, and other vulnerable groups.