Diarrhoea Outbreak Hits Harare, Over 1 000 Cases Recorded

A diarrhoea outbreak has hit Harare, with more than 1 100 cases recorded between October 24 and November 20 2022.

In an interview with The Sunday Mail, Harare City Council director of health services Dr Prosper Chonzi said that most cases are being recorded in high-density suburbs. Said Chonzi:

We are recording about 250 to 270 cases of diarrhoea per week.

From October 24 to November 20, we recorded 1 115 cases. Cases of typhoid are still low, as we are recording between five and six cases every week.

These cases are mainly in high-density suburbs, where there is inadequate running water, no refuse collection and sewage bursts.

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Currently, we are testing any suspected case of diarrhoea at all our clinics and we are offering treatment free of charge.

We have activated our rapid response team; we are very alert and we have initiated contact tracing on suspected cases.

Chonzi said the City of Harare is working hard to avoid a cholera outbreak as happened in 2008 when more than 2 000 people were killed by the disease mainly in Glen View and Budiriro. He said:

In hospitals and clinics that are treating diarrhoea, we have stockpiled requisite medicines and sundries.

We have also secured drips (intravenous fluid) and mobilised a number of environmental officers and community health workers so that they start home visits to see if there are no reported cases.

We are trying, by all means, to manage this because we do not want history to repeat itself like what happened in 2008.

Chonzi said currently, no patients have been admitted to the hospital for treatment.