By Charles Mgbolu
Health authorities in South Africa say they are working around the clock to stem the number of cholera infections recorded in the Gauteng area.
So far, 23 people have died since an outbreak was recorded in Hammanskraal, Gauteng, north of Pretoria, on March 30, the Gauteng Department of Health said in a statement on May 29.
The water-borne disease has also seen more than 220 patients admitted to the hospital.
There have been intensified efforts to push cholera preventative awareness messages out to the public.
Tshepo Shawa, spokesperson for the Member of the Executive Council for Health Gauteng, told TRT Afrika: ‘’We are trying our best to get the message across. We have teams on the ground, especially in rural areas, pushing the message of cholera and teaching people how they can be safe."
In a statement posted on social media, the Gauteng health department said: ‘’The number of laboratory cases seen at Jubilee is standing at 48. There are 77 people currently in admission, while 29 have recovered and been discharged."
UNICEF says two children are among those who have succumbed to the bacterial infection.
Head of South Africa’s Medical Association, Dr Angelique Coetzee told TRT Afrika that people are being told, to boil their water and to not drink from dams and rivers.
On May 19, UNICEF’s global public health emergency unit head in Geneva, Jérôme Pfaffmann Zambruni, warned of the current cholera situation.
Zambruni stressed that it would be global and unprecedented due to the alarming size of the outbreaks and their geographic spread.
According to the WHO, Africa is witnessing an exponential rise in cholera cases amid a global surge. Cases recorded on the continent in the first month of 2023 alone have already risen by more than 30% of the total caseload reached in the whole of 2022.
An estimated 26, 000 cases and 660 deaths have been reported as of January 29, 2023, in 10 African countries facing outbreaks since the beginning of the year.
