Thomas Mwafongo it is everyone’s responsibility to prevent and manage cholera
Dowa District Council’s Director of Administration Thomas Mwafongo, says Cholera has hit Dowa district unaware since November, 2016 when the district had cases and no one knew that it can come in October during the dry season.
Mwafongo said he is imagining of what the situation will be during this rainy season saying many toilets are at the verge of being washed away by running water and this will result to breeding of houseflies all over transmitting cholera viruses in the district.
He said it is sad that cholera has come at a time that people have shown laxity in the prevention and management saying the disease coming again to the district is not normal advising all that it is everyone responsibility to take part in the prevention and management of the outbreak.
Speaking during a Public Health Emergency Management Committee [PHEMC] meeting held at the boma on Wednesday, Mwafongo called on health partners and all Civil Society Organizations implementing their various interventions to work together to see to it that the outbreak is contained in the district.
Mwafongo said the council is banking its hope and support on partners so that they can be complimenting government’s efforts towards containment of cholera in the district through prevention, management and cure.
He said the health sector has a 40 percent shortfall of staff saying this is a challenge especially now that the district is registering increasing numbers of cholera cases and this is the best time for partners to chip in to fill the gap.
….’’The cholera we know comes during the rainy season, we will have shortage of essential materials, space, it is better we contain it earlier than waiting for tomorrow, let’s treat cholera in our district as a disaster,’’….said Mwafongo.
He called upon health partners to share their ideas and resources on how they can prevent, manage and cure cholera so that together with the council they can sing one song of containing it in the district.
In his remarks, District Environmental Health Officer [DEHO] for Dowa Helen Ndhlobvu, thanked organizations such as Momentum and World Vision for coming in to support the District Health Office with resources to sensitize the communities on the outbreak of cholera, follow-up cases and contact tracing.
Ndhlobvu called on other health partners to emulate the example set by Momentum and World Vision so that with a little resource they can have to support in the containment of cholera in the district millions of people will be spared of their lives from cholera contamination.
According to statistics of cholera cases at the Dowa District Health Office, the district has registered 166 cumulative cases, 5 are currently admitted with 4 death, Mvera Mission and Mvera Army health facilities are the most hit due to the fact that communities there are drinking water from contaminated open wells.
