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ZIMBABWE-HEALTH-CHOLERA
Zimbabwe to start cholera vaccinations as 49 succumb to disease
HARARE, Sept 28, 2018 (BSS/XINHUA) – The Zimbabwean government has acquired
500,000 doses of cholera vaccines that it will start administering on
vulnerable groups in the coming week, Health and Child Care Deputy Minister
John Mangwiro has said.
At least 49 people have died from cholera, mainly in Harare, over the past
three weeks, with the city’s southwestern suburbs having been identified as
the epicenter of the outbreak.
“We received 500,000 doses of the cholera vaccine yesterday (Wednesday) and
preparations are at an advanced stage to initiate vaccination in the next
week,” the latest issue of Herald newspaper quoted him saying on Thursday.
Mangwiro was speaking at a handover ceremony of donations by Stanbic Bank
and the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe to
fight the cholera outbreak.
He said all provinces and city health departments are on high alert and
have activated their rapid response teams to deal with any outbreak.
“We hope we will be able to mobilize more vaccines before the end of the
year to reach a larger part of the vulnerable populations,” he said.
In a ministerial statement presented in Parliament Wednesday, Minister of
Health and Child Care Obadiah Moyo said the death toll from the outbreak had
risen to 49, with over 10,000 people being screened for the disease.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also said that a multi-drug
resistant cholera strain is in circulation and emphasized re-hydration for
treatment, with antibiotics used in mild to severe cases.
The WHO said a mass vaccination campaign is planned in Harare city and
surrounding areas, Chitungwiza and Epworth, to stop further spreading of the
disease, but the major challenge in containing the outbreak is the lack of
adequate water supply in affected areas.
“Supply of safe water remains a challenge. Municipal water supply is
sometimes interrupted during sewer repair, and communities spend hours
without clean water tanks in place to supply residents,” it said.
BSS/XINHUA/SSS/1642 hrs