ABOUT ZW$3 million has been earmarked for water, sanitation and hygiene projects in cholera hotspots to be on guard against further outbreaks in this year’s forthcoming rainfall season, a Harare City official says.
By Kudakwashe Pembere
Harare Mayor Counsellor Herbert Gomba told HealthTimes that they have sourced bowsers to prepare the City.
We have sourced bowsers and made money available to prepare our city for the upcoming rainfall season.
“We have set aside $3 million Zimbabwean dollars as Council and seeking for more from donors,” he said.
Reflecting on the outbreak last year, the Mayor said the experience was hard.
“It was a terrible experience, seeing our people suffering but soon came the desire to eliminate cholera,” he said.
Coming into office the same time as the Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo who lashed at the council for ignoring WASH issues in Glen View and Budiriro, Cllr Gomba did not take offense.
“When it happened I felt the need to work hard to do more for our people,” he said.
The Minister later on called for unity of purpose to combat the epidemic.
“I felt the desire to work hard to prove that we have a mandate which seeks to address our problems not indulge in fights,” Mayor Gomba said.
On lessons learnt, the Mayor noted that collective effort is needed to develop the City.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and UN-Water recently called on low and middle income countries to urgently increase investment in strong drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sanitation system.
As of 21 November 2018, there were 10,202 cholera cases with 55 deaths consisting of 9,933 suspected and 269 confirmed cases. A case fatality rate of 0.54 per cent was reported. An estimated 21 per cent of the reported cases are children under 5 years of age.
