The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Council of Ministers on Monday held an extraordinary meeting to discuss the cholera outbreak being experienced in several member states.
These include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, plagued since October 2023.
Speaking during the virtual meeting was the SADC Council of Ministers’ chairperson Téte António.
“In our meeting today (Monday), we seek to take collective, comprehensive and coordinated action to prevent and control cholera, guided by the evidence-based advice of our health experts who have comprehensively discussed appropriate measures to prevent and contain the disease,” said António, the Angolan Minister of External Relations.
“Countries that have been affected by this disease have had to redirect both the financial and human resources needed for development towards healthcare, thereby leaving limited resources available for other crucial development sectors,” he added.
On his part, SADC Executive Secretary Elias Magosi noted that last year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) classified the global resurgence of cholera as a Grade 3 emergency.
He said this denoted the highest internal level of a health emergency, requiring a comprehensive response at national, regional and global levels.
“Currently, five SADC Member States have ongoing cholera outbreaks, reporting up to 73% of cholera cases on the African continent. As a region, this trend is deeply concerning,” stated Magosi. He added that since the onset of the rainy season at the end of last year, several member states have experienced outbreaks of cholera, leading to a significant number of deaths, and putting a heavy strain on the provision of already-overstretched healthcare services in member states.
He thanked the cooperating partners, including the Africa Centres for Disease Control, WHO, UNICEF and the World Food Programme, for their commitment to continue supporting SADC efforts towards cholera elimination in the region.
– Nampa