Ministry of Health and Child Care Permanent Secretary, Dr Aspect Maunganidze, has noted the need to address water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) issues to stop cholera outbreaks.
Dr Maunganidze made these remarks while addressing the Parliamentary Health Committee on Tuesday.
He pointed out that the issue of WASH was raised back in 2018 when the pandemic broke out, and the assumption was that by 2023, the issues would have been addressed to avoid further outbreaks.
“A similar situation occurred in 2018, and the assumption was that by 2023 all our WASH issues would be solved. Unfortunately, they are still pending. This means that we should ensure that by 2026, our WASH issues would be sorted, otherwise, we will go through this same process again,” Dr Maunganidze said.
He reiterated the importance of addressing WASH issues while there is still access to cholera vaccines.
He highlighted that although vaccination is not a permanent solution, it serves as a preventive measure to allow time to improve WASH facilities.
“On January 29, we started our vaccination. Although it is not a general solution to the pandemic, it becomes very important in the face of increasing numbers. We received 2.3 million doses through WHO, and we had mapped hotspots according to the status that was existing before November last year,” he said.
“We had at least 93 percent of the targeted numbers coming to vaccinate. We are now pushing to get the second dose. One dose protects for just six months, but two doses protect for up to at least three years. The vaccination is a stop-gap measure you put in place while addressing the real issues of WASH.”
