Mozambique: Authorities declare cholera outbreak after 12 deaths in Cabo Delgado

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Mozambique: Authorities declare cholera outbreak after 12 deaths in Cabo Delgado

8:15 CAT | 24 Feb 2020

File photo: RM

Mozambique’s ministry of health on Thursday declared a cholera outbreak in northern Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province after registering 12 deaths from diarrhoea this month, the provincial health director told Lusa on Friday.

“The cases started arriving en masse and on consecutive days, so we isolated the people, did the analysis and confirmed it was cholera,” said Anastácia Lidimba, health director in Cabo Delgado province.

The districts of Macomia, Mocímboa da Praia and Ibo have recorded more than 200 cases of diarrhoea since January, following the rains that fell in the province.

On 12 February, six people died in the Ibo district and the rest in Macomia, the director revealed.

“They did not do 24 hours with us. They lost their lives as soon as they arrived at the health unit, because of the distance they had to come from their community to here”, she lamented.

According to Anastácia Lidimba, the problem is frequent throughout the rainy season in the province, due to sanitation problems.

The province’s health services are conducting campaigns to raise awareness, and distribute water purifiers to reduce the impact of the cholera outbreak in Cabo Delgado, the director said.

Since the campaigns began, the number of admissions to health facilities has reduced, Anastácia Lidimba said.

The bad weather in the province has affected some 10,000 people, in addition to the destruction of various infrastructures, especially the collapse of the bridge over the Montepuez River.

Between the months of November and April, Mozambique is affected by cyclonic winds from the Indian Ocean and by floods originating in the watersheds of southern Africa.

The current rainy season in Mozambique, from October to April, has already killed 54 people, due to natural disasters (mostly lightning strikes and flooding), and has affected some 65,000, many with flooded homes, according to data from the National Institute for Disaster Management.

Source: Lusa