Thousands infected in Tanzania cholera outbreak

Kinyungu

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Apr 6, 2008
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Aibu yetu ya kipindupindu imeshaanza kutangzwa ulimwenguni kwa mapana na marefu yake kupitia Aljazeera

Hivi ile kampeni ya magu ya usafi imeishiwa wapi? Mamlaka zijitahidi kumaliza hili tatizo kwa kweli maana tunapoelekea zile nchi za kutoa maonyo kwa raia wake utawasikia msiende tz kuna kipindupindu.


Tanzania is struggling to contain a deadly outbreak of
cholera that has claimed at least 222 lives since
August, the United Nations has said.
In a statement released to Al Jazeera on Thursday,
the World Health Organisation and UNICEF, the
United Nation's children's fund, said that the
outbreak was straining local capacities and
resources, and posed "a high risk to lives and the
economy".
According to the UN, the number of reported cases
of cholera has climbed to 14,303 across 27 districts
in the country since the outbreak began last August.
Cholera is a deadly diarrhoeal disease that can kill
within hours if left untreated. Results from water
quality surveys show that the source for the outbreak
is contaminated water, usually borne out of poor
hygienic practices and lack of sanitation facilities.
'Rapid intervention'
Authorities say the first case was reported in Dar es
Salaam’s Kinondoni district in August 2015 before
spreading throughout the Dar es Salaam region,
including Zanzibar.
Reliefweb reported that a surge in cases in
November suggested that without a "significant
and rapid intervention" there is a very real possibility
that up to 40,000 people could be at risk.
The Tanzanian government says it believes it is well
on the way towards successfully managing the
scourge.
Rapid response teams had been deployed to the
most affected areas to assist the work of the
regional and district health authorities, Dr Janneth
Mghamba, the assistant director of the epidemiology
and disease control section at the Ministry of Health
and Social Welfare, told Al Jazeera.
She said that the numbers showed that rate of
infection had slowed.
Responding to criticism that the government was late
to react to the outbreak, Mghamba said her
government was working on the issue as a matter of
priority.
Improving sanitation
"This government is well aware that the first issue to
address is that of safe water, followed by improved
sanitation."There was a period when there was no cholera in
Tanzania [...] water and sanitation coverage in the
country have climbed and now it is a case of
implementation," Mgamba said.

Earlier in January, Tanzania was one of 11 countries that received a cholera vaccine from WHO, but authorities said a shortage of the injection means
that it would not be accessible to all Tanzanians.
In mid-2015, the WHO had organised about 164 500 doses of the oral cholera vaccine to help avert an epidemic in Kigoma, specifically the Nyarugusu
refugee camp, where tens of thousands of Burundian refugees sought refuge after fleeing the political crisis in their neighbouring country.
Tanzania's Cholera Clinics Cholera has claimed the lives of 31 people so far in Tanzania, most of them Burundian refugees.


About 70,000 Burundians have fled to Tanzania as
a result of political unrest in their country. Our
Azad Essa visited one of 3 cholera clinics set up
for the refugees arriving in Tanzania to contain the
disease.Follow our coverage of Burundi: http://
bit.ly/1KpDTsNError notice: An earlier version of
this video was removed because we made an error
in naming the location of the cholera clinic. It's
Kasulu, not Kagunga as was stated in the previous
video. We regret the error and have fixed it.


Posted by Al Jazeera English on Thursday,
June 11, 2015

www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/01/tanzania-battles-cholera-outbreak-160122061416998.html
 
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