23 more die from cholera as govt hints at possible community resettlement plans

The Ministry of Health has recorded 23 more deaths from 373 cholera cases in 24 hours, which, along with the past records since October, prompted involved ministries in the fight to resort to extreme measures.

Local Government and Housing Minister, Garry Nkombo, said the current trend of disease outbreaks may call for stringent measures, which may include redefining settlement patterns in some communities.

“This may require availability of resources to try and resettle our people. As you all are aware, in places like George, in places like Kanyama, in places like Malapodi, we are still using shallow pit-latrines and side to side with that we are also using shallow drinking wells,” he said.

He added that this had become necessary so that the government can permanently end the perennial recurrence of the cholera epidemic in the country.

“This means that we have to do something deliberate but they may be painful measures,” he stated.

He urged members of the public to ensure that they live in hygienic conditions to avoid the further spread of cholera.

“We have seen with sadness on both social and also official media how reckless sometimes our citizens become in the midst of this epidemic,” Nkombo noted.

Furthermore, in a bid to fight the epidemic by providing clean water, the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Mike Mposha, said his Ministry had so far installed 175 water tanks, each with a capacity of 10,000 liters, out of the targeted 235 installations in peri-urban areas.

Read More: Govt reinforces call for support, as cholera cases surge; 25 deaths reported in 24 hours

“It is in these areas where also we are burying shallow wells as directed by his Excellency the President,” he said.

Mposha stressed that climate change has negatively affected the pace at which his Ministry’s sets targets are being achieved.

“We want the rains, we want water, we want enough water but in terms of executing these works on the sanitation side in terms of empting the pit-latrine, once it is raining the way it was raining yesterday it is very difficult to work in such conditions,” he said.

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