By Michael Gwarisa
One person has died in the latest Cholera outbreak that has infected 21 people in the resort town of Kariba in Zimbabwe, the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) has confirmed.
The latest outbreak comes hot on the heals of a government proclamation four months ago that Zimbabwe had declared an end to the cholera outbreak that devastated multiple communities across the country.
In an interview with HealthTimes, the Ministry of Health Kariba District Medical Officer Dr. Godfrey Muza confirmed the new outbreak urged citizens to remain vigilant.
“I can confirm that there is a cholera outbreak. The cases are primarily coming from a place called Gache Gache, and so far, 21 people have been infected. Unfortunately, one person has died,” said Dr. Muza.
He added that the cases were recorded beginning November 6, 2024, from the Gache Gache fishing camp. On July 30, 2024, Zimbabwe had declared the end of a cholera outbreak that began in February 2023. This outbreak was the second largest in the country’s history.
The cholera outbreak affected all 10 provinces of the country, with 62 districts impacted. Through the implementation of multi-faceted interventions, the outbreak was eventually contained. The last cholera case was reported on June 30, 2024.
By then, the country had recorded 34,549 suspected cholera cases, 4,217 confirmed cases, and 33,831 recoveries. There were 718 cumulative deaths, with 87 laboratory-confirmed and 631 suspected deaths, resulting in a case fatality rate of 2.1%.
Early this year, Zimbabwe launched a nationwide Cholera vaccination campaign targeting high risk communities. Kariba was amongst some of the priority communities to receive Cholera Vaccine doses. Approximately 2 million people, aged one year old and above received doses of the Oral Cholera Vaccines.
