The non-governmental organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) considered urgent the reinforcement of sanitation to prevent diseases in the centers hosting victims of the floods in Boane and Namaacha district, in Maputo province.
In an interview with Deutsche Welle, the medical coordinator at MSF, Ana Gabriel, explained that floods carry health risks and open space for the creation of infectious diseases such as cholera and diarrhea, highlighting, therefore, the need to ensure basic conditions.
“In these types of conditions [floods], it’s always the same diseases that cause more morbidity in people, such as diarrhea, which affects children under five years old much more, upper respiratory diseases, which also affect children more, and then we have malaria that affects adults more,” the coordinator detailed.
In order to minimize these evils, Ana Gabriel said that the organization she represents is focused on finding mechanisms to help people who are in the centers to prevent them.
“We have been distributing family hygiene kits with the collaboration of the National Red Cross. The Ministry of Health is also doing a good job. They were very quick and put a medical post in each resettlement site for the people,” he said.
On the outbreak in the coming hours of Cyclone Freddy in Mozambique, the source said it is important to urgently detect vulnerable communities and work with them to increase their resilience.
Mozambique has recently experienced a cholera outbreak in some provinces. The disease has already caused the death of 37 people out of the 5260 cases registered by health authorities.
