In the wake of Cyclone Freddy, which dissipated in mid-March after massive flooding and landslides in southern Africa and killed at least 676 people in Malawi, the epicenter of the disaster, Mozambique is experiencing its worst cholera outbreak in more than 10 years, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Friday.
"With nearly 21,000 cases and 95 fatalities, this is the greatest cholera outbreak in more than 10 years," said Severin Von Xylander, the WHO representative in Mozambique.
He briefed media in Geneva via video link as the outbreak was still spreading geographically in Maputo. Eight of the 11 provinces in the nation have been impacted. While the worst-affected city is Quelimane, where 350 people have had cholera care visits and 132 have been admitted to cholera treatment facilities in the past 24 hours.
According to Xylander, "Following Freddy's landfall, the number of cases surged from less than 20 a day and increased tenfold."
In four provinces, the first cholera immunization program got underway in late February. One injection was administered to more than 715,000 people.
A second campaign with a 410,000-person target was begun in Quelimane Thursday in which several provinces will receive vaccination campaigns; more than 1.35 million people are currently in the crosshairs.
Polio, COVID-19, cholera, Cyclone Freddy flooding and an ongoing humanitarian crisis in the north are the other three health emergencies that WHO teams are addressing in Mozambique at the same time. This scenario is "crushing" the country's health services, told Xylander.
Cyclone Freddy destroyed more than 132,000 homes and 184,000 people were displaced, and while the floods are now receding, access to safe water is "challenging," while around a third of crops have been destroyed, he added.
"Malnutrition rates, which are already very high, will significantly rise in the next weeks along with the number of malaria cases. Although I don't want to terrify anyone, I do want to call attention to a worrying scenario that millions of people are currently experiencing here," Xylander remarked.