In an exclusive interview, Ministry of Health and Child Welfare Director of Epidemiology and Disease Control, Portia Manangazira, said poor water and sanitation hygiene standards countrywide were fostering the spread of water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea.
“According to latest reports 6,843 suspected cases of typhoid, 142 confirmed cases and seven deaths have been recorded since October,” she said.
Managazira added that the cumulative figure for common diarrhoea cases since January was 92,572, with 60 deaths. “In the early years of the century we used to record an average weekly prevalence of 3,000 cases of common diarrhoea but we now record between 10, 000 and 15,000 cases.
“According to Week Eight and Nine reports this year we had 11,238 cases and 10 deaths and 10,434 cases and five deaths respectively,” she said. “Children are the most affected by diarrhoeal diseases, constituting half of all cases, and this is the reason why we will miss the MDGs, come 2015,” she said.
Meanwhile, 10,946 cases and six deaths of dysentery have been recorded since January. Manangazira said the solution to the water borne diseases lies in the improvement of water quality and quantity and proper management of waste. She said each person requires an average of 20 litres of water per day but most people in Zimbabwe were going for days without this minimum, while diarrhoeal diseases required more water to wash spoiled clothes and surfaces.
Typhoid, cholera, common diarrhoea and dysentery are all reflective of a WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) situation where there is high transmission of contaminated water and food while a small proportion is caused by chronic illnesses.
“We are not properly managing our solid and sewage waste while local authorities are failing to provide 80 percent of water coverage. In areas like Binga there is only four percent water coverage and Harare City Council is only managing 60 percent of which 40 percent is lost through leakages,” she said, adding that most urban water sources were compromised by contamination.
“Where there is a leakage it means that something is also coming in through the openings especially when there is low pressure of supplies as germs enter the system. Most urban boreholes are not safe for drinking as some boreholes are just drilled without assessment of the environment. What was a dumping area or sewage stream is where a borehole is drilled,” she explained.
Post published in: Health