Cholera kills again in Mozambique, with second death in February

Mozambican health authorities recorded more than 400 new cases of cholera in the north of the country in the last three days of February and a second death this month, according to official data that Lusa had access to this Friday.

According to the latest disease development bulletin prepared by the National Directorate of Public Health and containing data as of February 28, a total of 12,762 cholera cases have been reported in the country since October 1.

The previous bulletin, with data up to February 25, put the total number of cholera cases at 12,396, resulting in 27 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. Another death was added in mid-February in Sofala province, the 27th death and the first recorded by authorities in February. In the same province of Sofala, a new death from cholera was registered in the last three days, which is also the second day of the month throughout the country.

The mortality rate from the disease in Mozambique currently remains at 0.2%, but in just a week, the total number of patients hospitalized in the country, according to the same data, has grown to one hundred.

The province most affected by the current wave of cholera outbreak is Nampula (north), which has a total of 4,073 cases and 12 deaths, followed by Tete (northwest) with 2,500 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 Lusa, 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.

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).