Cholera is killing again in Mozambique, with first death in February

Mozambican health authorities have recorded 90 new cases of cholera in the north of the country in the past three days and the first death this month, according to the latest official data that Lusa had access to this Monday.

According to the latest disease development bulletin prepared by the National Directorate of Public Health and containing data as of February 17, a total of 11,871 cases of cholera have been reported in the country since October 1.

In the previous bulletin, with data up to February 15, the total number of cholera cases was 11,781, resulting in 26 deaths.

Mozambique has not officially recorded a single death from cholera since the beginning of January, but the 26th death of the current outbreak was recorded between 29 and 31 January, in Tete province. The latest bulletin now adds another death in Sofala province, the 27th death and the first death recorded by authorities in February.

According to the same data, the death rate from the disease in Mozambique currently remains at 0.2%, and 61 patients are hospitalized.

In early February, the Mozambican government announced that 29 districts were experiencing low-level outbreaks and cholera had been completely eradicated from seven.

The province most affected by the current wave of cholera outbreak is Nampula (north), which has a total of 3,748 cases and 12 deaths, followed by Tete (northwest) with 2,345 cases and seven deaths.

Mozambique’s health authorities recently vaccinated more than 2.2 million people against cholera in areas hardest hit by the current outbreak, nearly full coverage ahead of schedule.

In previous statements to Luse, the head of the Expanded Vaccination Program of the Ministry of Health, Leonildo Nhampossa, said that a total of 2,268,548 people were vaccinated against cholera in four provinces between January 8 and 12, including more than 1 year of age.

This “corresponds to 100 percent coverage. The set goals have been fully achieved,” he said.

The target population for this vaccination operation was 2,271,136 people, which corresponds to the population living in the most vulnerable areas and the focus of the current outbreak, as previously mentioned by the Ministry of Health.

According to the National Directorate of Public Health, the campaign targeted populations aged one year and over and was carried out in the districts of Cuure and Montepuez (Cabo Delgado province), Gil, Gurue and Mocuba (Zambezia), Magoe, Moatize and Zumbo (Tete) and Maringa (Sofala).

The vaccination campaign involved 1,136 teams consisting of 7,337 employees, including vaccinators, mobilizers, registrars, managers, coordinators, data entry staff, logisticians and drivers, among others, at a cost of approximately $1.3 million (1.19 million euros) with state funds. and cooperation partners Mozambique.