By Kuda Pembere
The Ministry of Health and Child Care has received US$265 000 worth of cholera treatment medicines and equipment from Unicef to help Zimbabwe in the containment of the outbreak.
Speaking at the handover ceremony at NatPharm Warehouse in Harare on Friday, the Health and Child Care Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora said it was disconcerting to find the case fatality rate still over 2 percent.
And what you have given us today is quite substantial and will go a long way in helping us combat the cholera epidemic. As you know, Zimbabwe has had protracted cholera outbreak since February 2023, that is last year.
“This is almost a year now. We are just a few, maybe two, three weeks away to be a complete year. By 24 January this year, the country had recorded a cumulative number of cases, 20,446 and 452 cholera deaths, with a case fatality rate is still quite high.
“The acceptable should be zero, but WHO and UNICEF will tell us that less than 1%. Why should we accept a death on something that can be prevented?
“So a 2.2 percent, I think we are not happy. But this work to reduce that case fatality rate can only be managed through good case management and provision of adequate drugs and commodities.
“And this is where we are seeing our partners coming in today as we are witnessing UNICEF and your partners. This will go a long way in reducing that case fatality rate,” the Minister said.
The Health Minister also said the rate of infections in children was high.
“I know to be able to completely eradicate cholera, it requires more than just managing the cases. Amongst the reported cholera cases, 31% were under 15 years of age, while 14% were children under the age of five. And as we can see today, most of the commodities that we have received will cater for the children,” Dr Mombeshora said.
The donation worth US$ 265 000, the Health Minister said, will help reduce the case load of cholera cases in the country.
“Today we thank the Health Resilient Fund (HRF), UNICEF, UPS and all the partners that contributed to this donation of cholera medicines and commodities worth USD$265,000.00 that will go a long way to address case management of cholera cases,” he said.
The Health Minister said 892 000 doses will be administered during the initial phase of the vaccination campaign starting next Monday.
“We are waiting for the last batch which will be expected to be sent tomorrow. Then we start our campaign on Monday. 892,000 doses.
“We want to start when we have 892,000 doses. Oh yeah, yes. Okay. Alright, so by two. And we are hoping that by tomorrow we will receive the third batch of 294,000 again to make them 892,000. And we should start our vaccination campaign on the 29th, which is on Monday, up to the 2nd of February. We hope we will have gone through those 894,000 doses.
“But like I said, we are expecting 2.3 million doses. And we will be vaccinating as they come. So the second tranche of another 894,000 will be coming. We dispatch it as well until 2.3 million doses are completed. And as I said, we are targeting the hotspots first, mainly Manicaland, Shingo, Harare, Mash Central, and Mash West. So as we proceed, we’ll be updating you on which areas we have covered,” Dr Mombeshora said.
UNICEF Representative to Zimbabwe Dr Tajudeen Oyewale said the case fatality rate was at one time close to 3 percent to be dropped to 2.2 percent through the coordinated efforts of the Government and its partners.
“Between September last year and now, we have seen a major decline in case fatality rates for cholera, from 2.8% to 2.2%. We are not yet there, because we want to be less than 1%. But I can tell you, and the Honorable Minister can attest to it, that the efforts that went into reducing that case fatality from 2.8 to 2.2 is not in any way a joke. It required a lot of effort of health workers both in clinic facilities, treatment centers, and also in community and also the work of hygiene promoters to promote the use of hygiene kits,” he said.
The Health Resilience Fund co-chair and Ireland Embassy in Zimbabwe program manager Mr Dumisile Msimanga said from the US$90 million pooled to fund various health programs in the country, they set aside US$3 million for the cholera response.
“The Health Resilience Fund is a four year, US$90 million programme supporting maternal health, child health, nutrition and building resilient and sustainable health systems, that are able to withstand shocks,” he said. “The Health Resilience Fund has made available US$3 million out its current budget to support cholera response, & part of that was used to procure these materials. Feedback from our partners WHO and UNICEF, is that this budget is providing much needed support in terms of cholera treatment centres, gathering data to guide decision making and working within communities to prevent further spread of the disease.”
The Health Minister said 892 000 doses will be administered during the phase one of the vaccination campaign starting next Monday.
“We are waiting for the last batch which will be expected to be sent tomorrow. Then we start our campaign on Monday. 892,000 doses.
“We want to start when we have 892,000 doses. Oh yeah, yes. Okay. Alright, so by two. And we are hoping that by tomorrow we will receive the third batch of 294,000 again to make them 892,000. And we should start our vaccination campaign on the 29th, which is on Monday, up to the 2nd of February. We hope we will have gone through those 894,000 doses.
“But like I said, we are expecting 2.3 million doses. And we will be vaccinating as they come. So the second tranche of another 894,000 will be coming. We dispatch it as well until 2.3 million doses are completed. And as I said, we are targeting the hotspots first, mainly Manicaland, Shingo, Harare, Mash Central, and Mash West. So as we proceed, we’ll be updating you on which areas we have covered,” Dr Mombeshora said.
