Disease causes severe diarrhoea, is treatable but can cause death from dehydration if not promptly tackled.
A cholera epidemic has caused 141 deaths in Mozambique since it broke out in September 2022, the country’s Health Ministry said on Thursday in its bulletin dedicated to monitoring the disease.
The number of cases is around 32,000, so the overall lethality rate is low (0.4 percent), but still relevant for a treatable disease that can be prevented with vaccination.
Almost half of the cases were registered in Zambezia province in the centre of the country, especially affected after the destruction caused by cyclone Freddy in February and March.
The province accounts for the highest number of deaths: 38.
“This is the biggest epidemic of this disease over the last 20 years,” Health Minister Armindo Tiago said in early May, noting, however, that the number of cases tends to reduce as vaccination progresses.
Cholera is a disease that causes severe diarrhoea, which is treatable, but can cause death by dehydration if not promptly tackled.
The disease is caused largely by ingesting food and water contaminated by poor sanitation.
Mozambique is considered one of the countries most severely affected by climate change in the world, a situation that exacerbates the resilience of infrastructure and services to prevent the disease.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned a fortnight ago that the world will have a cholera vaccine shortage by 2025 and that one billion people in 43 countries could be infected with the disease.
Correio da Manhã
