By Michael Gwarisa
Zimbabwe will soon take delivery of Oral Cholera Vaccine (OCV) doses following the recent approval for delivery of the consignment by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Zimbabwe is among Southern African countries experiencing a surge in Cholera case due as a result of deteriorating water and sanitation infrastructure, climate change among a host of other factors.
Speaking an interview with HealthTimes, Dr Aspect Maunganidze, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) said all was set for the arrival of Cholera Vaccine doses in the country.
Cholera vaccine allocation to Zimbabwe was approved by the WHO ICG (International Coordinating Group on Cholera Vaccines) on 12/01/24. Ordinarily it takes 7 days to get delivery after approval so anytime now we expect communication on the shipment progress. The distribution will be based on the initial quantities and the hotspots mapping,” said Dr Maunganidze.
As of today, Zimbabwe has record
ed 19 477 suspected cholera cases, 2 252 confirmed cases, 18 793 recoveries, 71 Confirmed deaths and 350 suspected deaths Case Fatality Rate (1.81 percent). To date suspected and confirmed cases have been reported in 60 districts in all the 10 provinces of the country since the beginning of 2023.
Meawhile, neighbroing Zambia on Tuesday kicked off a mass oral cholera vaccination drive targeting township hotspots of the capital Lusaka, which has been severely hit by the outbreak.
The drive started with the 1.4 million doses received on Monday from the World Health Organization (WHO) which has allocated the Southern African nation 1.7 million doses of the vaccine.
Launching the campaign in George Township of Lusaka, Zambia’s Health Minister Sylvia Masebo said residents will be given one dose each instead of the recommended two doses because the vaccines were insufficient to cater to everyone.
“The vaccine will also be administered to our health workers who have been at the forefront fighting cholera,” said Masebo.
The country of 20 million citizens has been grappling with a cholera outbreak since last October.
On Tuesday, the Zambia National Public Health Institute reported that the country had recorded 373 new cases and 23 deaths.
This brought the nationwide cumulative number of cases since October to 9,953, with 397 deaths and 8,757 recoveries.
