Residents urged to be vigilant as cholera hits Malawi

Clementine Phulu, Sunday news Reporter
BULAWAYO residents have been urged to be on guard against the possible outbreak of cholera as the city continues to face water shortages which has seen the local authority introducing a 72-hour water shedding schedule.

This comes as Malawi is in the midst of its worst cholera outbreak in two decades with over 640 people having lost their lives to date after the disease spread to all districts of the south-eastern African country.

With Bulawayo’s 72-hour water shedding schedule, the city is on a ticking time bomb for a number of water-borne diseases like diarrhoea, cholera, typhoid and dysentery.

Last year in July more than 1 000 diarrhoea cases were recorded in the city where it was initially detected in Pumula, but the outbreak spread across the city.

With the World Health Organisation (WHO) predicting that by 2025, 50 percent of people worldwide will experience water stress, the Government has come up with a number of strategies meant to address water challenges in the country, chief of which has been dam construction.

Deputy national chairperson for Doctors and Nurses for Economic Development, Dr Isheunesu Makwambeni said the provision of reliable and effective water and sanitation hygiene is pivotal for the attainment of health and there was a need for the local authority to urgently attend to the looming crisis and come up with alternative water sources such as boreholes.

“A reduction of 73 percent in diarrhoeal diseases will be achieved by transitioning to services that confer safe and continuous piped water supply, as cholera is an infectious disease that is caused by eating food or drinking water contaminated with a bacterium called Vibrio cholera,” said Dr Makwambeni.

He, however, emphasised the need to boil borehole water before consumption.

“Communities are advised to boil water for at least five minutes before consumption, to use water treatment tablets, to washing hands with soap/ash before eating, after using toilet or when necessary and to wash fruits and vegetables using running water,” said Dr Makwambeni.

Dr Makwambeni said diarrhoeal diseases commonly present as acute gastroenteritis which is the swelling or inflammation of the stomach and the intestines.

The affected populace will complain of diarrhoea which is frequent passage of loose and or watery stool, vomiting, stomach cramps, headache and fever. The diarrhoea may also result in severe dehydration resulting in acute kidney injury and death.

He stated that the high-risk population resides in overcrowded regions such as squatter camps and closed institutions such as schools, hospitals, and jails. It is worth noting that children aged six to 24 months are at risk of severe problems such as malnutrition.

Furthermore, those who are immunocompromised, underweight, or live in bad social settings are more vulnerable to diarrhoea.