By Michael Gwarisa
In a bid to provide temporal protection against Cholera infection and severe cholera symptoms, Zimbabwe will soon be rolling out a targeted Oral Cholera vaccination program in the 57 affected districts, HealthTimes has learnt.
Zimbabwe is among the 18 countries battling Cholera in the world and according to the Africa Centre for Diseases Control (Africa CDC), the widespread Cholera crisis on the continent has pushed demand for Oral Cholera Vaccines (OVC) to unprecedented levels.
However, Zimbabwe has since made headway in terms of procuring vaccines and mapping the population in need of urgent Cholera vaccination.
Dr Douglas Mombeshora, the Minister of Health and Child Care in Zimbabwe told this publication that the government had finalised modalities for the procurement and roll out of the cholera vaccines.
We don’t have enough vaccines to cover the whole country so we have mapped out the districts that are affected and where we will target the vaccination. We have come up with a target population of approximately 1.9 million so we have just rounded it up to say we require about 2 million doses of Cholera vaccines. Remember, we do not vaccinate children under one year,” said Dr Mombeshora.
He added that they have been working with GAVI and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to facilitate procurement of the Oral Cholera Vaccine for Zimbabwe.
“There is no Cholera Vaccine which is free on the market and all vaccines are now under the control of WHO and GAVI. We had our final meeting on January 4, 2024 with WHO. After our final meeting and mapping of the districts that are going to be targeted for vaccination, we have been promised that hopefully by Wednesday next week, we will have approvals and then we should be able to start getting the vaccines.”
Zimbabwe last administered Cholera Vaccines in April 2019 when more than 1 million people received the vaccine. The vaccine was further extended to prisons as well as areas that were affected by Cyclone Idai.
Meanwhile, as of 05 January 2024, 202 new suspected cholera cases (4) suspected deaths and (44) laboratory-confirmed results were reported. The cases were reported from BRIDH (33), Glenview (24), Kuwadzana (22), Mbire (18), Highfield (15), Chipinge (14), Buhera (13), Mazowe (12), Chitungwiza City (11), Budiriro (8 Bindura (5), Chivi (4), Chiredzi (4), Mutare (2), Centenary (2), Chikomba (2), UMP (2), Seke (2), Bikita (2), Gutu (2), Rushinga (1), Nyanga (1) Kariba (1), Mudzi (1), and Zaka (1).
A total 188 cases were also hospitalized at Chiredzi (4), Bikita (11), Chivi (8), Mwenezi (7), Zaka (1) in Masvingo Province, Buhera (16), Mutare Rural (7),Chipinge (12), Chimanimani (1), Nyanga (1), Mutare City (1), Makoni (2) in Manicaland Province, BRIDH (44), Chitungwiza City (13) in Harare Province, Zvishavane (5), Mberengwa (5) in Midlands Province, Bindura (3), Mazowe (20), Centenary (2), Mbire (8), Rushinga (1), in Mash Central Province, Kariba (7) in Mash West Province, Beitbridge (4) in Mat South Province and UMP (5) Mash East Province.
