Cholera vaccination covers 83 percent of Harare hotspots

Vladimir Dube

MORE than 83 percent of people living in suburbs that were classified as cholera hotspots in Harare have been vaccinated against the waterborne disease since the beginning of the mass immunisation programme in January.

To date, over 900 000 people in suburbs such as Kuwadzana, Glen View, Budiriro, Mbare, Southlea Park, Highfield, Glen Norah and Chitungwiza have received at least one dose of the oral cholera vaccine (OCV).

The OCV programme was launched on January 29 by the Ministry of Health and Child Care to curb the rising number of cholera cases across the country.

Zimbabwe secured about 2,2 million doses of OCV from the International Coordinating Group, a global health initiative established in 1997 under the World Health Organisation, to manage and coordinate the emergency supply and distribution of vaccines for critical outbreaks of four specific diseases — cholera, meningitis, yellow fever and Ebola.

The vaccination campaign targeted multiple hotspot districts in seven provinces.

In an interview with The Sunday Mail, Dr Isaac Phiri, the ministry’s cholera incident manager, expressed satisfaction with the programme’s initial success.

“All the hotspots in the targeted areas had a coverage of above 90 percent, with most reaching 100 percent in terms of coverage,” he said.

“Harare has so far vaccinated 908 948 people out of a target of 1 094 830, giving a vaccination coverage of 83 percent.

“Harare will continue with vaccination after the OCV campaign, utilising the remaining vaccines to cover workers at their convenient times, including after hours and on weekends.”

New cases of cholera, he said, were on the decline in most areas previously classified as hotspots.

“Week-on-week cholera cases in the hotspots continue to decline,” he continued.

“This has been more notable in Harare Metropolitan province, Masvingo, Manicaland and Mashonaland East provinces.

“This can be attributable to the sustained response activities taking place in those areas, including the effect of vaccination.”

Dr Phiri, however, said there were concerns about rising cases in some areas that were not previously categorised as hotspots.

He said there was an upsurge of new cases in areas such as Shamva, Mt Darwin, Muzarabani, Mazowe and Bindura.

“Efforts are ongoing to stop the further spread of these cases,” he said.