On Sunday January 21, Mozambique surpassed 10,000 cases of cholera in the current outbreak that has been affecting the north of the country since October 2023, but with no deaths recorded for more than two weeks, according to official figures.
According to the most recent bulletin on the progression of the disease, drawn up by the National Directorate of Public Health and with data up to January 21, there have been 10,061 cases of cholera in the country since October 1, with 25 deaths and 7,321 people hospitalized.
In the last ten days, there have been 800 new cases of the disease, but no deaths, according to the report.
The lethality rate caused by this outbreak has dropped in the last week from 0.3% to 0.2%, according to the bulletin, which continues to identify nearly 30 districts, mainly in the north of the country, with active cholera cases.
The province most affected by the current wave of this cholera outbreak is Nampula (north), with a total of 3,246 cases and 12 deaths, followed by Tete (northwest), with 1,897 cases and six deaths.
The Mozambican health authorities recently vaccinated more than 2.2 million people against cholera in five days in the districts most affected by the current outbreak, corresponding to practically full coverage compared to the schedule.
Speaking to media earlier, the head of the Ministry of Health’s Expanded Vaccination Program, Leonildo Nhampossa, said that a total of 2,268,548 people over the age of one had been vaccinated against cholera in four provinces between January 8 and 12.
This vaccination campaign mobilized 1,136 teams of 7,337 people, including vaccinators, mobilizers, registrars, supervisors, coordinators, data entry personnel, logisticians, and drivers, among others, and cost around 1.3 million dollars (1.19 million euros), including funds from the state and Mozambique’s cooperation partners.