Harare recorded over 1 100 cases of diarrhoea between October 24 and November 20, with the authorities citing the city’s failure to provide clean running water, collect refuse and attend to burst sewer pipes as the cause of the outbreak.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail, Harare City Council
director of health services Dr Prosper Chonzi said most cases are being
recorded in high-density suburbs, where clean water supply is unreliable.
The authorities, he said, are worried that cholera
outbreaks presently affecting Malawi and Mozambique could spread to Zimbabwe if
the diarrhoea cases are not managed properly.
“We are recording about 250 to 270 cases of diarrhoea per
week,” he said.
“From October 24 to November 20, we recorded 1 115 cases.
Cases of typhoid are still low, as we are recording between five and six cases
every week.
“These cases are mainly in high-density suburbs, where
there is inadequate running water, no refuse collection and sewage bursts.”
Dr Chonzi said the city’s health department had enhanced
its disease surveillance system by following up on suspected cases and contact
tracing to arrest the spread of the disease.
“Currently, we are testing any suspected case of diarrhoea
at all our clinics and we are offering treatment free of charge.
“We have activated our rapid response team; we are very
alert and we have initiated contact tracing on suspected cases.”
The city, he said, was mobilising vital medicines and treatment
regimens in anticipation of a major outbreak.
“In hospitals and clinics that are treating diarrhoea, we
have stockpiled requisite medicines and sundries,” he added.
“We have also secured drips (intravenous fluid) and
mobilised a number of environmental officers and community health workers so
that they start home visits to see if there are no reported cases.
“We are trying by all means to manage this because we do
not want history to repeat itself like what happened in 2008.”
Presently, he said, no patients have been admitted to
hospital for treatment.
“We urge the general public to be on high alert because
currently there is a cholera outbreak in Malawi and Mozambique, and if we do
not manage this properly, we will be affected.”
Community Working Group on Health executive director Mr
Itai Rusike said Harare’s perennial water shortages need a long-term solution.
“Environmental conditions underlie many of the common
health problems in Harare, including the diarrhoeal diseases. This makes access
to safe water, safe sanitation and hygienic waste disposal fundamental,” he
said.
“The increasing number of diarrhoeal diseases is a very
worrying issue and this is mainly due to poor water supplies and sanitation
services.”
He said council should ring-fence revenue collected for
waste collection and water provision to deliver an efficient waste management
and water provision service.
Harare Residents Trust executive director Mr Precious
Shumba said: “Service delivery in Harare has totally collapsed.
“It is actually by God’s grace that a lot of people have
not been infected up to now.
“Council has totally forgotten how to respond to residents’
reports of sewer bursts.
“Water shortages have become the norm.
“When available, council water is unfit for human
consumption, if reports coming from most communities are anything to go by.”
Some suburbs such as Glen Norah and Glen View have gone for
three weeks without water supplies.
There are also reports that some opposition councillors are
cashing in on the situation by selling water using bowsers to residents.
Harare mayor Councillor Jacob Mafume referred The Sunday
Mail to council’s acting corporate communications manager, Mr Innocent Ruwende,
who claimed cases of diarrhoea naturally increase during the rainy season.
“While we accept that we have not been at par with refuse
collection, we are currently recapitalising. We recently purchased equipment so
that we clear refuse by December 2022,” he said.
“The refuse compactors are no longer taking refuse to
Pomona Dumpsite because they spend too much time on the road. We are
constructing transfer stations where refuse compactors dump garbage at their
nearest transfer station in order to increase turnaround time.”
Ineptitude, malfeasance and maladministration have been
blamed for the collapse of service delivery in urban areas. President Mnangagwa
has had to intervene through the Presidential Borehole Drilling Scheme to
provide relief to residents in Chitungwiza and some parts of Harare. Central
Government is also constructing Kunzvi Dam as a long-term solution to Harare’s
water woes. Sunday Mail
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