President promotes measures against cholera

Speaking at a rally in the district of Mopeia during his working visit to Zambezia, the President pointed out that the province is often plagued by cholera. He lamented that this is worsened by disinformation spread by people of ill intent.

He warned that cholera is deadly, but when health workers explain the need for hygiene rules, including the use of chlorine, some say that this aims to spread not prevent the disease.

The President stressed that “we are all called on to observe the hygiene rules and to accept the instructions of the health technicians”.

Last year, Zambezia registered 2,298 confirmed cases of cholera resulting in ten deaths. This year it has had 134 cases (without loss of life), mainly in the provincial capital of Quelimane.

A lack of trust between health workers and local people has been a serious hindrance to the acceptance of public health campaigns.

In 2015 the provincial court in Quelimane condemned several people to prison sentences varying between six months and four years for the vandalisation of a cholera treatment centre at Sinacurra, in the outskirts of the city.

The problem arose when a patient died, and, following the universal guidelines for cholera treatment, the centre staff closed all her bodily orifices with cotton wool. The dead woman’s husband was fully aware of this procedure and consented to it.

But rumours had already spread and reached the ears of the woman’s father. He burst into the centre, ripped the clothing off the body, saw the cotton wool and declared that his daughter’s body parts had been extracted.

A mob quickly gathered, attacked the treatment centre and assaulted the staff. The centre was closed and attempts to reopen it in the subsequent days failed, because of the hostility of the local population, convinced that the staff were stealing organs from the patients.

Not much was left of the centre. The mob destroyed medical equipment, vandalised the bathrooms, and stole the furniture and the utensils used in the treatment of patients. Some of the material stolen had not been disinfected, and people handling it were at risk of catching the disease. The thieves even stole the buckets used to contain the body wastes of the cholera patients.

In other incidents, people have accused health workers of spreading the disease when chlorine was used to purify wells. This was because, in Portuguese, the words for chlorine and cholera sound vaguely similar.

At the rally in Mopeia, President Nyusi also condemned the current wave of persecution against albino citizens. He stressed that “nobody gets rich killing and selling the organs of other humans. Wealth is gained from work”.

Criminals kill albinos for their body parts which can be sold to others who believe that they possess magical powers.

The kidnapping and murder of albinos is treated as a heinous crime in Mozambique. Whilst the normal sentence for murder is 24 years in prison, heavier penalties can be imposed for crimes considered to be heinous. In May, four people were sentenced to prison terms of forty years for the killing of an albino citizen. However, these heavy sentences have failed to stop the crimes – last year at least thirteen albinos were killed Mozambique.