Skip to main content

Zimbabwe: Cholera Outbreak Emergency Plan of Action DREF Operation n°: MDRZW013 / PZW032 - Final Report

Countries
Zimbabwe
Sources
IFRC
Publication date
Origin
View original

A. SITUATION ANALYSIS

Description of the disaster

On 5 September 2018, 25 patients were admitted at Beatrice Road Infectious Disease Hospital (BRIDH) presenting symptoms which included diarrhoea and vomiting. Ten (10) of these patients were referred from Harare Central Hospital, and the other 15 used various modes of transport to reach BRIDH. Most cases came from Glenview 8, 3, Budiriro 1 and 2. A 25-year-old woman who was brought in collapsed and died on the same day -- 5 th of September 2018. A sample from the woman was positive for V. cholera, Ogawa. All the patients had typical cholera symptoms like excessive vomiting and diarrhoea with rice watery stools and dehydration. During the night of 5 September 2018, more patients were admitted. By early morning of 6 September, some 52 suspected cholera cases had been admitted.

On 6 September -- 11 cases were confirmed by RDT to be positive of Vibrio cholerae. Some 39 stool samples were taken for culture and sensitivity, and of these, 17 were confirmed positive for Vibrio cholerae type Ogawa species.

Contaminated water sources including boreholes and wells were suspected to be the source of the outbreak. Sewage was seen flowing on the ground all over the affected areas due to blocked & damaged sewer pipes.

▪ On 6th September 2019, the then Minister of Health and Child Care Dr. David Parirenyatwa visited BRIDH. With the information at hand, he declared a cholera outbreak in Harare City.

▪ The new Minister of Health, Dr O Moyo, toured the cholera epicenter immediately after he was sworn in as Minister on 11th September 2018. He subsequently visited the epicenter virtually daily with other very high-level Government officials.

▪ The Head of State declared the cholera as a state of disaster, in line with sub-section (1) section 27 of the Civil Protection Act on 12th September 2018 and the First Lady visited the epicenter on 18th September 2018 and donated essential supplies through the Angel of Hope Foundation. MoH received these supplies on behalf of the Beatrice Road Infectious Disease Hospital. The Head of State, together with his two Vice Presidents, visited the epicentre in Harare on 19th September 2018.