Cholera Situation in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Region

Highlights

• The SADC Summit lauded Africa CDC for technical and financial support to respond to an outbreak of cholera

• The Africa CDC is relying on member states’ commitment to tackle the root cause of frequent cholera outbreaks and eliminate the disease by 2030

A cholera outbreak in southern Africa has led to a regional summit to discuss measures to contain the disease’s spread. The summit was held by the Southern African Development Community’s Secretariat and headed by Joao Lourenco, President of Angola. He highlighted the progress made and challenges encountered in combating the outbreak.

The SADC Council of Ministers met digitally on January 29th, 2024, to discuss prevention and management strategies. The Council heard a report from the SADC Ministers of Health meeting on January 27th, 2024 on the cholera situation and the region’s readiness to respond to further outbreaks. Five SADC nations, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania, had reported cholera outbreaks since last year, accounting for 73% of all cases in Africa.

At a virtual Summit of Heads of State and Governments, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa suggested that SADC member nations should adopt integrated measures and a multisectoral strategy, including water sector and urban planning, to find a long-term solution to cholera.

Mr. Majaliwa emphasised the responsibility of society and citizens to take precautions and observe sanitation, and hygiene for personal benefit. He advocated setting up more primary healthcare facilities, sanitation and hygiene to prevent the disease’s transmission.

In the span of a little over 12 months, the number of reported cases of cholera totaled nearly 253,000 and 4,200 deaths across 19 African countries. More than 72% cases occurred in the SADC between January 2023 and January 2024.

Reported Cholera outbreak cases and deaths in the SADC region from 1st January 2022 to 24th January 2024

The uncertain climatic conditions have further exacerbated the disease’s outbreak. According to climate forecasts, an increased chance of normal to above-normal rainfall was likely in several countries between December 2023 and February 2024.

A survey found insufficient infrastructural capacity related to vital facilities such as water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in the SADC. The WHO (AFRO) cholera readiness survey called for more capital infusion in infrastructure to counter the disease’s spread.

The presidents of five Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia took part in the summit. It was also attended by government representatives from South Africa and Madagascar among other countries.

Recommendations for Action

A plan-of-action was developed to mitigate the disease’s effects and curb its transmission. The measures were approved by all governmental representatives and the Presidents.

• Prioritise a multisectoral response plan to encompass additional risk factors related to climate change

• Reinforce a joint regional mechanism to assess public health along with disease surveillance

• Collaborate to conduct multi-phase immunisation across several countries

• Allocate resources to bolster quick response solutions and long-term preparedness

• Implement climate-resilient WASH and Disaster Risk Reduction programmes

• Accelerate cholera vaccine manufacturing along with improved supply chain security and technology transfer

• Roll out measures for efficient waste disposal and develop infrastructure for regular water supply

• Enlarge budget allocation for WASH programmes

• Set up accountability mechanisms to track performance of government initiatives

Look out for our upcoming article with the latest update on cholera through September 2024, covering both Africa and global progress on this issue