Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has made three water treatment facilities and two cholera treatment units available to the Mozambican authorities, as part of the response against the cholera outbreak in central Mozambique.
The facilities are located in Quelimane, in Zambezia province, among the most affected by the cholera outbreak that started in September last year in some provinces of northern and central Mozambique, indicates an MSF note released today.
“MSF’s emergency interventions to support local authorities in containing the growing number of cholera cases in Zambezia lasted a month, between the declaration of the outbreak in mid-March, until the drastic reduction of patients admitted to cholera treatment facilities in mid-April,” says the organisation’s note, which adds that the number of cases is decreasing as a result of the vaccination campaign, which covered 410,000 people in the city of Quelimane alone.
“MSF activities in Quelimane have included the establishment and reinforcement of four cholera treatment facilities, support in patient management, training of medical and non-medical staff, recruitment of support staff at the cholera treatment facilities, donation of medical equipment and medicines,” the MSF note adds.
Mozambique has registered over 27,000 cases of cholera since September, with Niassa, Tete, Sofala and Zambezia provinces, some of which were recently affected by Cyclone Freddy, being the hardest hit by the disease, with cases also being registered in the northern province of Nampula and the capital Maputo.
A total of 1.2 million people have been vaccinated against cholera in three provinces in Mozambique, 100 percent of the target.
Cholera is a disease that causes severe diarrhoea, which is treatable but can cause death by dehydration if not promptly tackled – and is caused largely by ingesting food and water contaminated by poor sanitation.
Mozambique, considered one of the countries most severely affected by climate change in the world, is in the middle of a rainy and cyclonic season, which occurs between the months of October and April, with winds coming from the Indian Ocean and floods originating in the southern African basins.
ASemana