Africa-Press – Botswana. Botswana is committed to implementing preventative and mitigating factors to ensure its population is protected from cholera.
This was said by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Lemogang Kwape in an interview after attending a SADC extraordinary virtual summit of Heads of State and Government on behalf of President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi on Friday.
Dr Kwape said the extraordinary summit, which was convened by SADC chairperson, Angola President, Mr João Lourenço discussed the outbreak and continued threat of cholera in the region, and that Botswana reiterated her commitment to ensure the country stayed safe from the outbreak.
He said World Health Organisation (WHO) and Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC) experts had warned that cholera was becoming a challenge in the region and that SADC convened meetings of regional health ministry experts and Heads of State and Government to deal with the threat.
He said the challenge was more pronounced in countries such as Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and that as Botswana ‘we will stay vigilant’.
He said the summit agreed on steps to best address the spread of cholera, an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by the ingestion of bacterially contaminated food or water.
Dr Kwape said any public health disease outbreak in neighbouring states compelled the country to become alert, adding that they agreed on strengthening measures to curb the spread of the disease in the region.
He also said they agreed to ensure better access to medication and to enlist one of the regional leaders as a SADC champion on the prevention of cholera.
Additionally, Dr Kwape noted that a good supply of clean water and sanitation to households was critical to the prevention of a cholera outbreak.
He said only one third of the people living on the continent had access to clean drinking water, and that Botswana was considered to be close to full access.
“We acknowledge that we do struggle with water scarcity and are still working on ensuring the entire population has good, reliable water access. Our water infrastructure projects, sanitation works plus the provision of flush toilets to households is something that is gradually spreading this access nationally,” Dr Kwape said.
Giving his introductory remarks at the summit, SADC executive secretary, Mr Elias Magosi said since the onset of the rainy season there had been an outbreak of cholera leading to death and the disruption of households.
He urged SADC leaders to accelerate the implementation of interventions and recommendations that were made in previous meetings of the ministers of health.
He also said regional leaders should double efforts to ‘tackle the main drivers of cholera outbreak and to reverse the trend’, adding that the need for adequate supply of clean water, improved sanitation and enhanced hygiene practices could not be over emphasised.
“This must be our focus at country level and regionally,” he said.
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