Africa-Press – Mozambique. Health authorities in Zambézia province, in central Mozambique, on Monday declared outbreaks of cholera in three districts, with a cumulative total of 499 people hospitalised due to the disease.
“The province has cholera outbreaks in the districts of Gurué, Gilé and Mocuba and until yesterday, 5 November, we had a total of 499 patients who needed hospitalisation. Fortunately, there have been no deaths at the health centres,” said Óscar Hawad, Zambezia’s provincial health director, during a press conference.
According to Hawad, of the total number of people hospitalised, 300 are in health units in Gurué, the district with the highest number of cases.
Óscar Hawad said that teams of technicians had been deployed to support the district of Gurué in the management and monitoring of cases, with the aim of “stopping or limiting the transmission” of cholera as quickly as possible, and that treatment centres for the disease had also been set up in the province.
The district of Gurué was the worst affected by the torrential rain that hit the province last week, causing five deaths and house collapses, not to mention indirectly causing cases of acute diarrhoea, the secretary of state said at the time.
The Zambezian authorities are asking communities to step up prevention measures to stop the cholera outbreak.
“Let’s boil and purify the water, wash our food frequently before cooking and above all always wash our hands,” appealed Cristina Mafumo, Secretary of State for Zambézia.
Mozambique is considered one of the countries most severely affected by climate change in the world, a situation that aggravates the lack of infrastructure and services to prevent the disease.
Cholera is a disease that causes severe diarrhoea, which is treatable but can lead to death from dehydration if it is not tackled promptly.
The disease is largely caused by ingesting contaminated food and water due to poor sanitation.
In May, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that the world will have a shortage of cholera vaccines by 2025 and that one billion people in 43 countries could be infected with the disease, pointing, in October, to Mozambique as one of the countries most at risk.
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