This comes after the Ministry of Health and Child Care
reported that the disease had killed at least 12 people in the district from
the 152 recorded cases in the past month.
The cholera outbreak started at a church shrine where a
spiritual healing session was being held and the concerned church does not
encourage its followers to seek medical attention.
Speaking at a post-Cabinet briefing in Harare yesterday,
Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister, Dr Jenfan Muswere,
said Cabinet received a report from Health and Child Care Minister Dr Douglas
Mombeshora on the outbreak of cholera in Buhera district with effect from 26
August 2023.
“The Minister of Health also presented a report on
preventive measures with respect to reported cases of cholera in Buhera.
Cabinet would like to inform the nation that the Government
has instituted a number of measures to contain the reported Buhera incidents
such as mobilising equipment for borehole drilling, advocacy and activation of
the District Civil Protection Unit. The
Nation will be kept abreast of developments on the matter,” said Minister
Muswere.
Responding to media inquiries on the extent of the cholera
outbreak, Minister Mombeshora said the Government was now on top of the
situation in terms of mitigating the effects.
He said the number of new cases were falling, meaning that
measures initiated were bearing fruit.
“The outbreak has been going on for about a month, since
around the 26th of August 2023. The cumulative figure is that we had 152 cases
and unfortunately we also had 12 deaths, that is why we are so worried and we
would want to warn the public about the responses.
“Yesterday we had about 22 new cases, the figures are now
coming down, there were times we had about 40 or so new cases but now we
believe the measures that we have put in place are beginning to bear fruit,”
said Minister Mombeshora.
“The most affected area is Murambinda Growth Point and we
have identified reasons why we have new cases in Buhera so much more than any
other places. Yes, we might have one or two cases that we have picked up in
neighbouring Hwedza district but they trace back to Buhera because two patients
we picked in Mashonaland East province had attended same funeral in Buhera.”
He said they had since activated health personnel such as
village health workers and environmental health technicians to engage
communities.
“Let me say cholera is a preventable disease, but if not
handled properly can lead to loss of life, so it is diarrhoeal disease. Anyone
with diarrhoeal disease must report to health centres for further management.
“We have also realised that the epicentre was a shrine
doing spiritual healing and we are now educating people to say you must seek
medical attention, we are engaging church leaders to encourage their followers
to go to hospitals,” said Minister Mombeshora.
He said they were working with other Government agencies to
ensure that gatherings and unauthorised vending were discouraged in and around
Murambinda Growth Point.
“We are also consulting with schools to ensure that
children are educated not to play around with dirty water. We have also seen
that there are vendors, especially unregistered vendors, we are talking to the
Ministry of Local Government to ensure that these vendors are removed from the
streets of Murambinda.
“We are also educating the people not to use river water.
There is also a river that flows through ward seven and we have realised that
villagers around that river have contracted the disease more than those that
are further away,” Minister Mombeshora said.
In a related matter, Minister Muswere said following
reports by the Harare City Council on their failure to provide bulk water to
the city, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural
Development convened a meeting of the National Action Committee on Water
Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).
“The Committee found out that the main challenges affecting
the City of Harare are as follows: heavy pollution of Water Supply Dams
(Chivero and Manyame) leading to excessive use of water treatment chemicals;
aged units constantly breaking down; aged water supply infrastructure leading
to reduction in treatment capacity and high water losses; and failure by City
of Harare to pay for water treatment chemicals to meet the current treatment
capacity of 520 Megalitres per day,” said Minister Muswere.
“The nation is being informed that the Government is fully
committed to resolving the Harare water challenges and that of all cities,
rural and urban centres. The Government, through the Presidential Rural
Development Programme, has drilled 301 boreholes in the past year. Furthermore,
a rig has been dedicated to Harare Metropolitan Province and ZINWA will
continue the borehole drilling programme, prioritising suburbs which are not
receiving water from the City of Harare.” Herald
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