“Cholera outbreaks occur regularly in Mozambique between October and April, but with nearly 21,000 cases and 95 deaths, this is the largest outbreak in over a decade.”, WHO representative in Mozambique, Dr Severin Ritter von Xylander, told reporters in Geneva by videoconference from Maputo. He added that “for example, the province of Manica (center-east), today largely affected, has not experienced cholera in the last 15 years”.
“The epidemic continues to spread geographically”
In the most affected port city of Quelimane, which was without water or electricity for 14 days, 132 people have been admitted to cholera treatment centers in the past 24 hours, he gave as an example, indicating that “the name of cas a explosé” and went multiplied by ten. The WHO official warned that “the epidemic continues to spread geographically”pointing out that five new districts had been affected in the past week alone.
A first vaccination campaign against cholera took place at the end of February in four provinces, targeting more than 715,000 people. The kick-off of a second campaign was launched Thursday in Quelimane, targeting 410,000 people. Others will follow, notably in the provinces of Manica and Sofala. In total, more than 1.35 million people are targeted by these campaigns.
The cyclone Freddy hit the Southern African region twice in a matter of weeks. In Mozambique, it destroyed more than 132,000 homes and 184,000 people were displaced, according to the WHO. And 163 health facilities were damaged. The floods caused by the cyclone “are receding now, but access to drinking water and sanitation is still difficult, around a third of the crops have been destroyed”, added Dr Ritter von Xylander.