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Dr Manangazira

Health Reporter
THREE people have died of diarrhoeal diseases in the past week while nearly 10 000 others were treated and discharged of the same as challenges in provision of adequate and safe water continue unabated.Two of these were from Harare while the other was from Nkayi. Epidemiology and disease control director in the Health and Child Care ministry Dr Portia Manangazira said although reported cases are going down, they are still high compared to the preceding two years.

“Even though cases are coming down, we do not take pride in that because 10 000 cases is still high figure and three deaths is just too much for a preventable and curable condition,” Dr Manangazira said.

She said provision of adequate and safe water and improvement of sanitary conditions remains critical in curtailing prevalence of diarrhoeal diseases in the country.

Dr Manangazira said high cases could be exacerbated by the fact that most boreholes and wells are running dry owing to the lowering of the water table.

These boreholes, used to relive residents when taps ran dry and the lowering of the water table further compromises access to adequate water.
“As usual we continue to urge people to treat drinking water at the point of use, eat food while still hot and wash hands with soap or ash before and after using the toilet and before meals.

These hygienic practices reduce one’s chances of contracting bacteria, which reduces diarrhoea,” she said.
Dr Manangazira said 50 percent of diarrhoeal cases in children under the age of five years are as a result of rotavirus.

She said with the introduction of the rotavirus vaccine earmarked for introduction by the end of the year, more than half of the cases currently recorded are expected to go down.

She said work towards expansion of central vaccine stores is underway and is expected to be complete in the next three months.
“They (contractors) had given us a five-month target and this is just their second month but they have already done 20 percent of the work,” she said.

According to the Government’s disease weekly surveillance dated week ending 8 September, two children died of common diarrhoea while nearly 9 000 others were treated during the same period.

During the same period, one person died of dysentery while 815 others were treated. Seven new suspected cases of typhoid have also been recorded in Harare and Chegutu.