Mozambique has reached the target of 1.2 million people vaccinated against cholera in three provinces in the centre of the country, as a total of 111 deaths from the disease have been recorded since September, indicates the daily bulletin of the Ministry of Health (Misau).
The total of 1,277,478 people vaccinated in Zambézia, Manica and Sofala provinces, the most affected by the disease, corresponds to 100 percent of the target, according to the Health Ministry.
The vaccination campaign against cholera started on 29 March and ended on Monday, with a target of 1,277,539 people to be vaccinated.
A total of 111 people have died and another 16,374 have been hospitalised due to cholera since September 2022 in Mozambique, according to the latest Misau data.
Mozambique has recorded a cumulative of 24,516 cases of the disease since September, 441 of which were registered in the last 24 hours, the update from the National Directorate of Public Health said.
The provinces of Niassa, Tete, Sofala and Zambézia are among the most affected by the disease, whose lethality rate is 0.4 percent, according to health data.
The African Union (AU) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) today appealed for “support” from the international community to combat cholera outbreaks in Mozambique and Malawi, recently aggravated by the impacts of tropical cyclone Freddy.
“The health and social infrastructure of Mozambique and Malawi has been damaged. We call on all those who have the capacity to help to cooperate with these countries to restore normalcy,” Africa CDC acting director Ahmed Ogwell said in an online press conference.
“Responses [in these two African nations] require a humanitarian approach,” added Ogwell, who stressed the need to ensure clean water supplies, proper human waste disposal and inter-regional communications, among other urgent measures.
Cholera is a disease that causes severe diarrhoea, which is treatable, but can cause death from dehydration if not promptly tackled – 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 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.
Lusa
