Mozambique: Not a single case of cholera in the last 54 days – govt

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Mozambique: Not a single case of cholera in the last 54 days – govt

12:00 CAT | 28 May 2018

Girls play football in a schoolyard in the city of Olinda in the north-eastern state of Pernambuco. The game was organized by the local NGO PETI (Programme for the Eradication of Child Labour), a UNICEF-assisted organization that offers sports and cultural activities to children from marginalized communities.

In 2006 in Brazil, favourable economic trends mask striking racial, ethnic, gender, geographic and urban/rural disparities. For example, black children are 78 per cent more likely to live in poverty than white children, and children in rural areas are twice as likely to be poor than those living in urban areas. While the nation boasts the world's ninth largest economy, it also has one of the highest income gaps between rich and poor. This inequity manifests itself in every aspect of life, from basic services, healthcare and education to access to clean water and improved sanitation. Yet the nation's response to HIV/AIDS is recognized as one of the best in the world. The Ministry of Health provides free, universal antiretroviral (ARV) therapy to all HIV-positive children and adults who need it, as well as expanded HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care programmes for pregnant women and young people. Nevertheless, significant regional and social challenges remain. The number of AIDS cases among blacks and women continues to grow at a much higher rate than for whites and men. In 1985, the male-to-female ratio of AIDS cases was 23 to 1; today it is 1.5 to 1. Among adolescents, this ratio has already inverted, and there are now 1.5 AIDS cases among girls for every boy. UNICEF supports HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care for all children, adolescents and pregnant women; equal access to health, nutrition and education for all children; and comprehensive youth development to discourage child labour and promote racial and ethnic equality.

File photo

Mozambique has not registered a single new case of cholera for 54 days, officials said, after the outbreaks of the past months in the north of the country.

The last reported case of cholera came on April 4th, according to the head of the Department of Epidemiology at the Ministry of Health, Lorna Gujral, quoted by the Mozambican newspaper Noticias on Monday.

The disease usually spreads through the consumption of contaminated water, which happens most frequently during the rainy season from October to March.

During the last rainy season, authorities registered a few hundred cases in Cabo Delgado and Nampula provinces, resulting in four deaths.

Mozambique’s last cholera epidemic occurred between January and April 2017 and killed at least four people, according to the Ministry of Health, which declared the outbreak controlled on May 19 of that year.

Source: Lusa