On Monday, Zambia announced the receipt of over a million oral cholera vaccine doses from the World Health Organization (WHO) to combat a severe outbreak.
The nation, grappling with the disease since October, has already postponed the start of the new school year.
With over 374 deaths, including 12 in the last 24 hours, and 9,580 cases, Zambia faces a critical situation.
The WHO and Gavi aim to decrease global cholera cases by 90% by 2030, but limited vaccine availability and outbreaks, such as in Zambia, pose challenges to this goal.
“This outbreak continues to pose a threat to the health security of the nation,” Zambia’s health minister Sylvia Masebo warned at the announcement.
The minister announced that Zambia has received 1.4 million oral cholera vaccine doses out of the approved 1.7 million doses from the World Health Organization (WHO).
The UN health agency confirmed this shipment through a social media post. With a population exceeding 19 million, adults in Zambia require two doses for full vaccination, while very young children may need three.
The vaccination initiative is set to commence in “high-risk areas” around Lusaka, the capital with over three million people, which is the epicentre of the cholera outbreak.
Over the weekend, measures to curb the spread of cholera were intensified, including restrictions on the number of attendees at burials resulting from cholera to five.
President Hakainde Hichilema, last week, urged citizens to exercise caution and minimise unnecessary travel. The WHO has expressed concern about the rising global cholera cases, particularly affecting Africa.
Earlier this month, Zambia’s government, grappling with the disease spreading to almost half of the country’s districts, delayed the start of the new school year by three weeks in response to the ongoing health crisis.
