Thyolo District Health Office has registered three new cases of Cholera in Traditional Authority (TA) Nchilamwera in the district following communities’ failure to take cholera vaccine which was administered previously.
Director of Health and Social Services (DHSS) Dr. Arnold Jumbe said the two cholera cases were registered at Ndalama village and one case at Mzuwa Village because the communities were misinformed by social media on the uptake of vaccine.
“During the previous Tithetse Cholera campaign early this year, Thyolo district had the opportunity to access cholera vaccine but most communities in the two villages were misled by social media messages and this resulted into low uptake of Cholera vaccine.
“People should trust health workers and should ask health workers to provide reliable and right information on cholera”, he said.
Dr. Jumbe assured people of Traditional Authority Nchilamwera that his office will carry out a series of cholera awareness meetings and pot to pot chlorination starting from the affected households.
He further said the district will also distribute Thanzi ORS on top of vaccinating people against Covid-19 in line with National Integrated Tithetse Cholera and Covid-19 Campaign expected to be rolled out soon.
Thyolo DHO identified first case of cholera case in October, 2022 at Mathotho Village, TA Mphuka and recorded the first death in the same area.
Cases increased from 32 in October, 2022 to 757 in January 2023 and consequently decreased to 419 in February 2023, according to Thyolo DHO.
Reported By Andrew Phiri
