2023–2024 Zambian cholera outbreak

Last updated

2023–2024 Zambian cholera outbreak
Lusaka rains 20 January 2.jpg
Minor floods in Lusaka 20 January 2024
Disease cholera
Source vibrio cholerae
Location Zambia
First reported Vubwi District
Index case National
DateJanuary 2023 – present
Type
 diarrhoeal disease
Confirmed cases19 840
Recovered19 000
Deaths
685 as of 22 February 2024, since October 2023
Fatality rate~3.5%
Government website
https://w2.znphi.co.zm/

The 2023–2024 Zambian cholera outbreak, part of the 2022–2024 Southern Africa cholera outbreak, is currently one of the most severe health crises in the country's recent history, [1] with its origins traced back to January 2023. [2] The outbreak initially surfaced in Vubwi District in the Eastern Province and Mwansabombwe District in Luapula Province. [3] [4] [5] By October 2023, the Zambia National Public Health Institute reported a cholera outbreak in the capital, Lusaka. [6] Cholera cases have so far broken out in 15 districts in five out of the country's 10 provinces, with Lusaka, the country's capital recording the highest number of cases. [7] Of particular concern is the rapid progression of the outbreak within Lusaka, where, within a week, the Ministry of Health reported a surge of 71.2% in cases and a staggering 175% increase in fatalities. [8]

Contents

Partners affiliated with DG ECHO actively collaborate with the Ministry of Health, providing crucial support in various capacities. Initiatives include community sensitization and risk communication, distribution and control of chlorine at critical water points, contact tracing, and the management of oral rehydration points within Lusaka. [9] There is an urgent imperative to intensify community engagement and bolster the supply of safe water in affected areas, coupled with continuous monitoring of water quality. [10]

Background

Cholera, a waterborne bacterial infection, has been a recurring health challenge in Zambia. The current outbreak has been identified as potentially the worst since the first recorded outbreak in 1977. The rapid spread of the disease has led to increased efforts by health workers to contain the crisis and provide essential medical assistance to those affected. [2]

Response

Response and challenges

President Hakainde Hichilema has called for the relocation of people from towns to villages, citing poor sanitation in densely populated urban areas as a significant factor contributing to the outbreak. The President's directive is aimed at minimizing the risk of further infections and creating a safer environment in rural areas. [11] Family gatherings during funerals have been identified as potential hotspots for cholera transmission. In response, the Zambian Health Ministry has prohibited funerals and family burials. Health Minister Sylvia Masebo emphasized the importance of adhering to these measures to prevent the spread of the disease. "I've told them that they cannot participate in burials, and I also told them that they cannot have funerals at their homes. I also told the general public not to attend funerals anymore," stated Sylvia Masebo.[ citation needed ]

Public health measures and response

In response to the escalating crisis, Health Minister Sylvia Masebo revealed that the National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka, with a seating capacity of 60,000, has been repurposed as a treatment center for cholera. This decision aims to alleviate the strain on existing health facilities grappling with the surge in cholera cases. Masebo, emphasizing proactive measures, stated, "We continue sensitizing our citizens not to buy food from unsafe locations and to observe the highest level of hygiene so that together we can curb the spread of cholera." To reinforce this message, a mass sensitization roadshow was conducted in Lusaka on Thursday. In an additional measure to curb the spread of the disease, vending on the streets has been prohibited, as announced last week. These collective efforts underscore the gravity of the public health situation and the commitment of authorities to mitigate the impact of the cholera outbreak in Zambia. [12] Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has played a role in supporting Zambia's response to the cholera outbreak by deploying technical assistance officers, coordinating with key partners, and providing financial assistance. The organization is actively engaged in various interventions, including training healthcare workers, strengthening laboratory capacity, and procuring essential medical supplies to control and end the cholera crisis. [13]

Oral cholera vaccination

In a determined effort to combat the cholera outbreak, Zambia initiated an extensive oral cholera vaccination campaign on January 16, 2024, concentrating efforts on the hotspots within the capital city of Lusaka, which has borne the brunt of the ongoing crisis. [14] The campaign commenced with the distribution and administration of 1.4 million doses received on January 15, 2024 from the World Health Organization (WHO), which has allocated a total of 1.7 million doses to Zambia. [15] The launch event took place in George Township, Lusaka, and was officiated by Zambia's Health Minister, Sylvia Masebo. Acknowledging the constraint in vaccine availability, Masebo announced that residents would receive a single dose instead of the recommended two doses. Notably, the vaccination program is also extended to health workers actively engaged in the frontline battle against cholera. [16] [17] [18]

Impact

Impact on education

The cholera outbreak has had significant repercussions on the nation's education sector and prompted stringent public health interventions. In response to the escalating crisis, authorities decided to postpone the reopening of schools by an additional three weeks, as announced by the Education Minister, Douglas Syakalima, on Thursday. [19] Syakalima informed reporters in the capital, Lusaka, that both public and private early childhood, primary, and secondary schools will remain closed beyond the initially scheduled opening date of January 8, 2024. [19] Consequently, the revised date for school resumption is now set for Monday, January 29. [20] This measure aims to safeguard the health and well-being of students and staff in the face of the ongoing cholera outbreak. [12]

On January 24, 2024, Zambia declared an additional two-week extension of school closures, with a revised reopening date of February 12, citing the escalating spread of cholera throughout the nation, notably in the capital city of Lusaka. [21] Originally scheduled to resume on January 8, the reopening of schools had already been postponed to January 29 due to the prevailing cholera outbreak. [22] "In light of the escalating cholera cases affecting various parts of the country, the national disaster management and mitigation council of ministers, in a meeting held this morning, advised the Ministry of Education to further defer the opening date to Feb. 12," disclosed Education Minister Douglas Syakalima during a press conference in Lusaka. The Health Ministry reported that Zambia has documented 13,686 cholera cases since the outbreak began in October of the previous year, resulting in 518 fatalities and 12,365 recoveries. [23] As of January 24, 801 patients are still undergoing treatment in hospitals. [24]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cholera</span> Bacterial infection of the small intestine

Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea lasting a few days. Vomiting and muscle cramps may also occur. Diarrhea can be so severe that it leads within hours to severe dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. This may result in sunken eyes, cold skin, decreased skin elasticity, and wrinkling of the hands and feet. Dehydration can cause the skin to turn bluish. Symptoms start two hours to five days after exposure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maureen Mwanawasa</span> First Lady of Zambia, politician

Maureen Mwanawasa is a legal practitioner and was once a First Lady of Zambia from 2002 to 2008. She is also a member of the Association of Women Lawyers in the United Kingdom, a serving council member of Law Association of Zambia Women’s Rights Committee, and is the current Vice Chairperson for the Habitat for Humanity, Zambia Board. She is the current Patron of Breakthrough Cancer Trust and the Child Care & Adoption Society of Zambia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 Zimbabwean cholera outbreak</span> Disease outbreak in Zimbabwe

The 2008 Zimbabwean cholera outbreak was an epidemic of cholera affecting much of Zimbabwe from August 2008 until June 2009. The outbreak began in Chitungwiza in Harare Metropolitan Province in August 2008, then spread throughout the country so that by December 2008, cases were being reported in all 10 provinces. In December 2008, The Zimbabwean government declared the outbreak a national emergency and requested international aid. The outbreak peaked in January 2009 with 8,500 cases reported per week. Cholera cases from this outbreak were also reported in neighboring countries South Africa, Malawi, Botswana, Mozambique, and Zambia. With the help of international agencies, the outbreak was controlled, and by July 2009, after no cases had been reported for several weeks, the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Welfare declared the outbreak over. In total, 98,596 cases of cholera and 4,369 deaths were reported, making this the largest outbreak of cholera ever recorded in Zimbabwe. The large scale and severity of the outbreak has been attributed to poor sanitation, limited access to healthcare, and insufficient healthcare infrastructure throughout Zimbabwe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cholera vaccine</span> Vaccine to prevent cholera

A cholera vaccine is a vaccine that is effective at preventing cholera. The currently recommended cholera vaccines are administered orally to elicit a protective local mucosal immune response in the gut, which was poorly achieved with the injectable vaccines that were used until the 1970s. The first effective oral cholera vaccine was Dukoral, developed in Sweden in the 1980s. For the first six months after vaccination it provides about 85 percent protection, which decreases to approximately 60 percent during the first two years. When enough of the population is immunized, it may protect those who have not been immunized thereby increasing the total protective impact to more than 90 percent.

As of 24 September 2012, a cholera outbreak in Sierra Leone had caused the deaths of 392 people. It was the country's largest outbreak of cholera since first reported in 1970 and the deadliest since the 1994–1995 cholera outbreak. The outbreak has also affected Guinea, which shares a reservoir near the coast. This was the largest cholera outbreak in Africa in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 Angola and DR Congo yellow fever outbreak</span> Disease outbreak in Africa

On 20 January 2016, the health minister of Angola reported 23 cases of yellow fever with 7 deaths among Eritrean and Congolese citizens living in Angola in Viana municipality, a suburb of the capital of Luanda. The first cases were reported in Eritrean visitors beginning on 5 December 2015 and confirmed by the Pasteur WHO reference laboratory in Dakar, Senegal in January. The outbreak was classified as an urban cycle of yellow fever transmission, which can spread rapidly. A preliminary finding that the strain of the yellow fever virus was closely related to a strain identified in a 1971 outbreak in Angola was confirmed in August 2016. Moderators from ProMED-mail stressed the importance of initiating a vaccination campaign immediately to prevent further spread. The CDC classified the outbreak as Watch Level 2 on 7 April 2016. The WHO declared it a grade 2 event on its emergency response framework having moderate public health consequences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016–2022 Yemen cholera outbreak</span> Outbreak of cholera in the war-torn country of Yemen

An outbreak of cholera began in Yemen in October 2016. The outbreak peaked in 2017 with over 2,000 reported deaths in that year alone. In 2017 and 2019, war-torn Yemen accounted for 84% and 93% of all cholera cases in the world, with children constituting the majority of reported cases. As of November 2021, there have been more than 2.5 million cases reported, and more than 4,000 people have died in the Yemen cholera outbreak, which the United Nations deemed the worst humanitarian crisis in the world at that time. However, the outbreak has substantially decreased by 2021, with a successful vaccination program implemented and only 5,676 suspected cases with two deaths reported between January 1 and March 6 of 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvia Masebo</span> Zambian politician

Sylvia Masebo is a Zambian entrepreneur, politician, and National Assembly of Zambia representative for Chongwe constituency with the United Party for National Development (UPND). Sylvia Masebo holds a degree in Banking and Finance. She first stood on the ticket of Zambian Republican Party (ZRP) in 2001, then the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) in 2003, then the Patriotic Front (PF) in 2011, and then the UPND in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Équateur province Ebola outbreak</span> Disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The 2018 Équateur province Ebola outbreak occurred in the north-west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from May to July 2018. It was contained entirely within Équateur province, and was the first time that vaccination with the rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine had been attempted in the early stages of an Ebola outbreak, with a total of 3,481 people vaccinated. It was the ninth recorded Ebola outbreak in the DRC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Samoa measles outbreak</span> Measles epidemic in Samoa in late 2019

The 2019 Samoa measles outbreak began in September 2019. As of 6 January 2020, there were over 5,700 cases of measles and 83 deaths, out of a Samoan population of 200,874. Over three per cent of the population were infected. The cause of the outbreak was attributed to decreased vaccination rates, from 74% in 2017 to 31–34% in 2018, even though nearby islands had rates near 99%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Tonga measles outbreak</span> Measles epidemic in Tonga in late 2019

The 2019 Tonga measles outbreak began in October 2019 after a squad of Tongan rugby players came back from New Zealand. As of 5 January, 2020, there have been 612 cases of measles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 pandemic in Africa</span> Ongoing COVID-19 viral pandemic in Africa

The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have spread to Africa on 14 February 2020, with the first confirmed case announced in Egypt. The first confirmed case in sub-Saharan Africa was announced in Nigeria at the end of February 2020. Within three months, the virus had spread throughout the continent, as Lesotho, the last African sovereign state to have remained free of the virus, reported a case on 13 May 2020. By 26 May, it appeared that most African countries were experiencing community transmission, although testing capacity was limited. Most of the identified imported cases arrived from Europe and the United States rather than from China where the virus originated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 pandemic in Connecticut</span> Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic in Connecticut, United States

The first confirmed case of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. state of Connecticut was confirmed on March 8, although there had previously been multiple people suspected of having COVID-19, all of which eventually tested negative. As of January 19, 2022, there were 599,028 confirmed cases, 68,202 suspected cases, and 9,683 COVID-associated deaths in the state.

The COVID-19 pandemic in Guinea-Bissau is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached Guinea-Bissau in March 2020.

On 5 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) notified the world about "pneumonia of unknown cause" in China and subsequently followed up with investigating the disease. On 20 January, the WHO confirmed human-to-human transmission of the disease. On 30 January, the WHO declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and warned all countries to prepare. On 11 March, the WHO said that the outbreak constituted a pandemic. By 5 October the same year, the WHO estimated that a tenth of the world's population had been infected with the novel virus.

The following is a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana during 2021-2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 vaccination in Africa</span> Immunisation programme against COVID-19 in Africa

COVID-19 vaccination programs are ongoing in the majority countries and territories in Africa, with 51 of 54 African countries having launched vaccination programs by July 2021. As of October 2023, 51.8% of the continent's population is fully vaccinated with over 1084.5 million doses administered.

COVID-19 vaccination in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is an ongoing immunisation campaign against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), in response to the ongoing pandemic in the country.

Events in the year 2022 in Zambia

The 2022–2024 Southern Africa cholera outbreak is an outbreak that has spread across Southern Africa. It started in Machinga District in Malawi in March 2022. The cholera outbreak in Malawi linked to cases in South Africa, the strains belong to the seventh cholera pandemic. Rather than being a resurgence of a previously circulating strain in Africa, these cases likely resulted from the introduction of a new cholera agent from South Asia into Africa.

References

  1. ↑ "Scramble to contain a cholera crisis in Zambia". Sky News. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  2. 1 2 Rédaction, Africanews (14 January 2024). "Zambia: Health authorites rallying to contain worst cholera outbreak in a decade". Africanews. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  3. ↑ "Cholera Threatens Lives of Children and their Families in Parts of Zambia | UNICEF Zambia". www.unicef.org. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  4. ↑ Mfula, Chris (14 December 2023). "PRESS STATEMENT ON THE CHOLERA OUTBREAK IN ZAMBIA" . Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  5. ↑ "Zambia appeals for support in cholera response as cases surge-Xinhua". english.news.cn. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  6. ↑ Zambia, U. S. Mission (16 January 2024). "Health Alert: Cholera Outbreak (January 12, 2024)". U.S. Embassy in Zambia. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  7. ↑ "Zambia's cholera cases reach over 4,000 - CAJ News Africa". 3 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  8. ↑ "As cholera cases continue to rise in parts of Southern Africa, UNICEF calls for increased focus on children in the cholera response". www.unicef.org. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  9. ↑ "Zambia: Elevated cholera activity reported in multiple areas through early January /update 2". Zambia: Elevated cholera activity reported in multiple areas through early January /update 2 | Crisis24. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  10. ↑ "Zambia – Cholera outbreak (DG ECHO, Zambia National Public Health Institute, DG ECHO partners) (ECHO Daily Flash of 04 January 2024) - Zambia | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. 4 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  11. ↑ "Zambia cholera: President Hakainde Hichilema urges people to move to villages". 11 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  12. 1 2 "Cholera-plagued Zambia defers reopening of schools by 3 weeks". www.aa.com.tr. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  13. ↑ "Africa CDC Support on Cholera Outbreak in Zambia – Africa CDC". 27 January 2024. Archived from the original on 27 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  14. ↑ "PRESS STATEMENT ON THE CHOLERA SITUATION IN ZAMBIA AND RECEIPT OF ORAL CHOLERA VACCINES".
  15. ↑ "Zambia races to curb fast-spreading cholera outbreak". WHO | Regional Office for Africa. 20 January 2024. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  16. ↑ "Zambia begins oral cholera vaccination". www.aa.com.tr. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  17. ↑ "Zambia Imposes Cholera Restrictions as Vaccine Program Starts". Bloomberg.com. 15 January 2024. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  18. ↑ "Zambia: Authorities begin vaccination against cholera after 363 recorded deaths | Africanews". 24 January 2024. Archived from the original on 24 January 2024. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  19. 1 2 Mitimingi, Taonga (4 January 2024). "Zambia Delays Start of School Year as Cholera Deaths Soar". Bloomberg. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  20. ↑ "Zambia Postpones School Opening After Cholera Outbreak". Voice of America. 8 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  21. ↑ "UNICEF and UNESCO sound call for commitment to ensure safe re-opening of schools... - Zambia | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. 25 January 2024. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  22. ↑ www.ETEducation.com. "Zambia further delays school reopening over cholera - ET Education". ETEducation.com. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  23. ↑ "Zambia postpones school reopening to Feb. 12 due to cholera surge-Xinhua". english.news.cn. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  24. ↑ "Cholera spread forces Zambia to postpone schools reopening by another 2 weeks". www.aa.com.tr. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.