Mozambican health authorities confirmed on Tuesday, April 18, that the peak of cholera has already been reached in the country, adding that a total of 124 deaths and more than 27,000 cases have been recorded.
“The outbreak reached a peak phase between the 12th and 13th epidemiological week. Today the epidemic is in a downward phase, although we have some new outbreaks,” said José Paulo, of the National Institute of Health (INS).
The health authorities also advanced that they need more than two million doses of the vaccine against the disease, this at least, to cover the areas of high risk.
“The country has already placed an order for new vaccines, but I must say that it has not yet had an answer, because there is a lot of demand globally,” he stressed.
In the last 24 hours, according to the daily bulletin of the Public Health Directorate, Mozambique registered 121 new cases of cholera, with no deaths.
The storms of February and March, especially after Cyclone Freddy, aggravated the situation and this is the worst epidemic of this disease in the country in the last decade, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Cholera is a disease that causes severe diarrhea, is treatable, but can cause death from dehydration if not promptly combated – and is caused largely by ingesting food and water contaminated by lack of sanitation networks.
Mozambique, considered one of the countries most severely affected by climate change in the world, is at the end of the rainy, cyclonic season, which occurs between the months of October and April.
