Africa-Press – Mozambique. The Mozambican authorities in Sofala province expressed concern on Sunday about a cholera outbreak in the province, which has registered more than 500 cases in recent weeks, the Provincial Health Services said.
“At the moment, we have a total of 539 active cases, with 19 people hospitalised, although no deaths have been recorded,” Prescila Filimo, director of Health Services in Sofala province, central Mozambique, told the media.
The active cases are in the districts of Caia and Maringue, the latter registering the highest number of cases of the disease, said the director of Health Services in Sofala province.
“In the Caia district, the situation has almost stabilised. We’ve gone from a situation where we registered 20 hospital admissions a day to a situation where we have 10,” said Prescila Filimo, adding that the authorities have deployed teams to other districts in the province to prevent the outbreak from spreading.
In less than two weeks, the Mozambican health authorities have confirmed 1,100 new cases of cholera in four provinces in the north and centre, which have caused two deaths, according to official figures that Lusa had access to on 4 December.
The bulletin on the progression of the disease, drawn up by the National Directorate of Public Health and with data up to 3 December, confirms 12 deaths from cholera, compared to 10 in the previous report on 20 November (two deaths recorded in Nampula and Zambézia), and 5,452 cases, compared to 4,339 on the same date last year, an increase of 1,113 cases of the disease.
Since the start of the current cholera outbreak in Mozambique on 14 September 2022, the country has recorded around 40,000 cases of the disease and 153 deaths.
In the bulletins on the progression of the disease, the health authorities now only count data from 1 October 2023, with Nampula province leading the way, with 2,056 cases that have caused four deaths, followed by Tete, with 1,313 cases that have caused six deaths, Zambézia, with 1,142 cases and one death, and Cabo Delgado, with 743 infected and one death.
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, mainly due to the lack of sanitation networks.
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.
In October, the WHO named Mozambique as one of the countries most at risk.
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