Minister of Health and Child Care Dr Douglas Mombeshora
By Lisca Philo and Licious Mkuni
Zimbabwe has registered a sharp decline in new cholera cases over the past two weeks following a multisectoral approach that has seen a myriad of interventions to contain the disease by government and its partners.
Minister of Health and Child Care Hon. Dr. Douglas Mombeshora revealed the positive development during a Cabinet session held at the State House in Harare yesterday, where he outlined the grand plan to consolidate the efforts and ensure a cholera free Zimbabwe.
Government has predicted that by March 2024, the cholera scourge will have subsided and the current trends are pointing in that direction.
The Minister said government had so far reinvigorated its interventions through key actions that include distributing water treatment chemicals at the point of use, providing training to water point committees, promoting handwashing through demonstrations, establishing Oral Rehydration Points, engaging with religious leaders, and conducting health awareness campaigns.
In addition, government rolled out a cholera vaccination programme in January 2024 as an additional strategy to contain the spread of the disease, with a target to administer 2.3 million vaccines countrywide.
The decline has also been made possible through a number of partners who have come on board to help government fight the deadly disease, which has registered about 400 suspected and confirmed deaths from about 22 000 cases since February 2023.
Government recently received significant support in the form of 60,000 liters of Intra-Venous fluids, tents, and other cholera supplies from the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
The government of Japan also weighed in with a grant of USD 774,000 for the emerging cholera response in Manicaland province.
The cholera vaccines were procured through financial support from GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, whose commitment to global health equity has been instrumental in providing access to life-saving vaccines for Zimbabwe.
This assistance has strengthened the ministry’s ability to control the spread of cholera and provide crucial care to those affected.
The Health Minister also said government had crafted a 12 week programme to consolidate and intensify efforts to combat the scourge, with Harare and Chitungwiza being priority hotspot areas.
“As efforts to fight cholera continue, the priority actions for the next 12 weeks, especially for Harare and Chitungwiza, include Oral Cholera Vaccine Deployment to the targeted hot spots, procurement of Cholera Response Medicines, Supplies and Commodities, Mobilisation of additional funding to support the cholera response at national and Sub-national levels for optimal and comprehensive response to the outbreak and Support for the implementation of the integrated community strategy to optimize access to safe water and sanitation,” added Dr Mombeshora
By taking a proactive approach and implementing these measures, the Ministry of Health and Child Care aims to safeguard the health and well-being of the nation, protecting individuals and communities from the devastating effects of cholera.
Government also hinted on deploying the police to enforce the law in line with the concept of clean cities and environment.
“Government will prioritize deployment of law enforcement agents to remove all food vendors from undesignated areas in all suburbs, supervise removal of refuse from areas where this has been dumped and make sure this does not pile up again and monitor and halt gatherings for religious and funeral purposes in other known hotspots until the situation normalizes,” said Minister Mombeshora.
The target on religious leaders seeks to minimize gatherings in hotspot areas while addressing those religious sects such as Johane Marange Apostolic Church whose church doctrines do not allow their members to administer any medication or visit medical treatment centres.
Early this year, government revealed that it had reached consensus with the Johanne Marange sect for their members to get cholera treatment through the available health facilities.
