Cholera Outbreak: Bulawayo City Council Concerned Over Open-air Worshipping
The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) says open-air worshipping around the city is a potential spreader of Cholera as some of the places do not have ablution facilities.
BCC Senior Health Promotion Officer, Sitshengisiwe Siziba said the local authority was engaging the leaders of these churches to raise awareness about the disease.
Addressing journalists at a meeting hosted by the Humanitarian Information Facilitation Center, in conjunction with the Health Communicators Forum, Siziba said the main reason why people contract cholera is because of poor hygiene.
She urged residents to always wash their hands and just like was the case during COVID-19, avoid shaking hands. CITE quoted Siziba as saying:
There are areas in our city where there is a lot of open-air worshipping around the city so we are engaging the leaders of these churches with regards to cholera prevention.
We do know that where there are no ablution facilities, it becomes a major fuel for transmitting diseases.
She said their department passes information to councillors and members of parliament through online platforms which they then disseminate to the people. Said Siziba:
We have WhatsApp groups where we engage with councillors and members of parliament. We give them information which they in turn disseminate to their constituencies and wards.
We also have partners that we are working with who come in with non-food items. They supply kits with soap and buckets.
One way of fighting cholera is hygiene and to effectively wash your hands you need soap.
Our observations have been that in most cases where there are cholera outbreaks, hygiene would be compromised that’s why we monitor closely.
Cholera has claimed over 150 lives countrywide while Bulawayo has recorded three cases and one death.
More: Pindula News
