Cholera kills again in Mozambique almost a month later

Health authorities in Mozambique recorded 270 new cases of cholera in the north of the country in the last two days of January and the first death in almost a month, according to the latest official data.

According to the latest disease development bulletin prepared by the National Directorate of Public Health and with data up to January 31, a total of 10,859 cholera cases have been reported in the country since October 1.

The previous bulletin, with data up to January 29, put the total number of cholera cases at 10,589, resulting in 25 deaths.

Since the beginning of January, Mozambique has not officially recorded a single death from cholera, but between January 29 and 31, the 26th death of the current outbreak was recorded, and in the province of Tete.

According to the same data, the mortality rate from the disease currently remains at 0.2%, with 38 patients hospitalized in the country.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is holding an extraordinary summit of heads of state and government this Friday to “assess the report of health ministers on the cholera situation” in the region, Mozambique’s president announced.

“It is expected that decisions will be made at this event on the best strategies to combat and contain this disease,” the President of the Republic said in a statement.

The Mozambican government announced last week 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 3,444 cases and 12 deaths, followed by Tete (northwest) with 2,148 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).

This vaccination campaign mobilized 1,136 teams consisting of 7,337 employees including vaccinators, mobilizers, registrars, supervisors, 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.