TANZANIA – The United Republic of Tanzania is set to host a regional workshop in Dar es Salaam organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region towards the elimination of cholera.
The regional workshop is expected to bring together technical officers from ministries responsible for health and water from Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia.
In addition, the workshop in Dar es Salaam is the fifth of the series of six trainings that will involve participants conducting trainings and simulation exercises on cholera in major hotspots in their respective countries.
“There is urgent need to improve surveillance system to enable early detection of cases as well as to improve case management and ensure the availability of oral rehydration salt in all settings,” said Ummy Mwalimu, the honorable Minister of Health of the United Republic of Tanzania.
Tanzania was selected to host the WHO regional meeting as it is considered a cholera-affected country after the country experienced its longest cholera outbreak which started in 2015 to 2019.
Only 5 Member States (DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) have validated long-term cholera elimination plans in 2021; and at least 10 Member States are affected by cholera outbreaks each year in the AFRO Region.
The WHO regional workshop will be held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to improve capacities at local levels for adequate prevention, early detection and timely response to cholera.
The World Health Organization African Region announced that the agency is organizing a targeted training in 28 priority countries to get them on track to cholera elimination targets.
In 2018, African Member States adopted the Regional Framework for the Implementation of the Global Strategy for Cholera Prevention and Control for the period 2018 – 2030.
WHO highlights that challenges facing the response to the cholera outbreaks in the African continent include inadequate participation from key sectors, limited resource and delay in declaration and notification as required by international health regulations (IHR 2005).
“One of the major leading factors to the burden of cholera in the African Region is the insufficient preparedness as revealed by a recent readiness assessment conducted in 23 countries,” WHO notes.
The World Health Organization in the African region is embarking on a continent-wide effort to eliminate cholera in the Region, the agency said on its website.
The continent-wide effort to eliminate cholera is in line with the “Ending cholera: A global roadmap to 2030” strategy that seeks to reduce cholera deaths by 90% and eliminate the disease transmission in 20 countries.
WHO Tanzania Acting Representative Dr. Zabulon Yoti said the training is a regional effort to increase and strengthen the readiness in high-risk cholera countries to quickly and effectively detect and respond to cholera.
The training will be facilitated by the three levels of WHO and experts from UNICEF, MSF, partners’ platform, International Federation of Red Cross, Secretariat of the Global Task Force on Cholera Control, the Country Support Platform and Center of Disease Control.
Meanwhile, UNICEF Representative in the United Republic of Tanzania Mrs. Shalini Bahuguna emphasized the importance of the multisectoral collaboration, community engagement and access to safe water and adequate sanitation in preventing and managing cholera outbreaks.
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