COMMENT: Educational campaigns crucial in fight against cholera

The spread of any infection around the country should be a cause for concern to everyone. When Covid-19 hit the world three years ago, there was a flurry of activity and a race against time to come up with a vaccine against the infection. After a period of global turbulence that upset many economies and put much of the world on tenterhooks, the storm calmed down following an extensive vaccination programme on a grand scale.

We have withstood and even overcome deadlier threats. It is in this vein that we believe that our people need to be armed with the right information so that they are able to fight infections and save their lives.  

Cholera has ravaged Buhera District particularly and Manicaland province in general, in addition to cases in almost all the 10 provinces. This means no one is safe from the disease if we do not take the necessary steps to stop the spread of the disease.

Using the experience gained from the fight against Covid-19, we believe we can successfully wage war against cholera, a water-borne disease that spreads rapidly where there is a deficiency of hygiene. It is important that authorities do all they can to ensure access to safe and clean water so that we reduce the number of deaths from an infection that should be easy to deal with under normal circumstances. It is important that communities are alerted on the importance of reporting all cases of diarrhoea early.  

In fact, when we have had many cases of cholera in the country like right now, it is wise to treat all cases of diarrhoea as possible cholera cases until proven otherwise. This is because cholera kills quite fast through dehydration hence the importance of treating patients on time so that they do not lose fluids, leading to their death.

At local level, there is a need for educational campaigns, and the washing of hands and the suspension of handshakes should be re-instated. We applaud football authorities for moving with speed to ban foodstuffs and drinks in stadiums because of the threat of spreading the infection among spectators. 

Prevention is better than cure. Let us all be pro-active and get as much information as we can on the infection, and other diseases as well, so that we are not found guilty of turning a blind eye to health threats, and later suffer the painful consequences. We need a holistic approach in the fight against disease.  

We are in October where focus is on breast cancer but since the threat of cholera is so real, especially with the onset of rains, we need a multi-pronged approach that raises communities’ awareness, to be always alert, and be informed, of all possible health threats, malaria included.