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Walter Nyamukondiwa and Fortunate Gora
MASHONALAND West Province has stepped up efforts to prevent an outbreak of cholera through the implementing various measures such as supervising funerals of people who succumbed to the disease in Harare and buried in the province recently.

This comes as investigations are underway to trace all people who attended a funeral in Sanyati after two people who were part of proceedings later died of cholera in Gokwe.

Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital has seconded seven nurses to  Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases Hospital to bolster the national response to the outbreak which has so far claimed over 30 lives.

In an interview, Ministry of Health and Child Care provincial spokesperson Mr George Kambondo confirmed that two victims of the cholera outbreak in Harare were buried in Mashonaland West Province.

“Government supervised all the funerals to ensure proper hygienic standards to avoid the spread of the disease in the province,” he said.

“Last week our environmental health officer also monitored the funerals of two victims of the Harare cholera outbreak who were buried in Kadanhi Village and Mhondoro-Ngezi to keep the province safe from Cholera.’’

Sanyati district administrator Mr Amigo Mhlanga said two people who died of cholera in Gokwe were found to have attended a funeral in Sanyati.

“Investigations are currently underway to see if the people were affected by cholera at the funeral. As of now the situation is under control and we can say there is no cholera in Sanyati district,” he said.

Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital medical superintendent Dr Collett Mawire confirmed that seven nurses had been seconded to  Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases Hospital which is handling the bulk of cholera cases.

“We are prepared for any eventuality and as of now we have seconded seven nurses to assist at  Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases Hospital. We are not leaving anything to chance,” he said. Local authorities in the province have also stepped up preparedness to manage any diarrhoeal diseases with Chinhoyi setting up a taskforce including Makonde district nursing and environmental officers and officials from the municipality.

It has already started conducting community awareness campaigns emphasizing on hygiene to prevent occurrence of the disease in the town.

Chinhoyi Municipality spokesperson Mr Tichaona Mlauzi said they have taken pre-emptive cholera measures.

“Campaigns are being carried in all the wards and we are also moving with a hailer in the community to raise awareness on the need for hygiene which is one of the major causes of the disease,’’ he said.

The awareness programme also involves distributing materials including flyers with information of cholera prevention and the symptoms to look out for.

“We have not had any cases so far, but we are monitoring the situation so that the town maintains its health status,” he said.

“At our clinics we are monitoring diarrhoeal patients and for every 5 patients we take a sample for testing. Currently we have not yet recorded any case and we will continue to monitor.”

Chinhoyi has significantly improved water pumping capacity to about 70 percent of the population’s needs.

The town is now pumping about 20 mega-litres from around 16 mega-litres early this year.

Vendors and those who prepare food at undesignated places were being monitored while residents are being discouraged from buying food at unsafe places.

The town is also carrying out water quality monitoring from sources including municipal taps, boreholes and tanks.

More than 30 people have died so far of cholera, with more than 5 000 patients undergoing treatment since the disease was detected.