Local authorities and international aid agencies struggling to deal with the massive destruction and displacement left behind by Cyclone Idai in Mozambique are facing a new crisis: cholera.
Senior health official Ussene Isse told reporters yesterday that five cases of of the water-borne disease have been discovered in a neighborhood of the coastal city of Beira, which sustained the most damage when the storm tore across Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe late last week. The storm damaged the city’s infrastructure, including its water supply and sanitation system.
. Cholera is a bacterial disease that usually comes as a result of drinking contaminated water and poor sanitation, and leads to such serious diarrhea that it can kill within hours if left untreated. Health workers are also dealing with an increasing number of people suffering from acute watery diarrhea.
The World Health Organization says 900,000 oral cholera vaccines are expected to arrive in the region sometime this week. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says it is stepping up activities to treat people with cholera and help curb the spread of the disease in the region.
“MSF is already supporting the Ministry of Health to care for patients suspected to be suffering from cholera in three health centers of Beira and has so far been treating more than 200 patients a day.