Lifestyle
Cholera will keep killing because Zambia refuses to fix root cause – PHAZ
Public Health Association of Zambia (PHAZ) has
Picture: Zambian Business Times
Public Health Association of Zambia (PHAZ) has indicated that lasting solutions to ending Cholera will require the country to address the environmental conditions that allow the disease to spread, rather than relying primarily on emergency responses when outbreaks occur.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Zambian Business Times-ZBT, PHAZ President, Christopher Kalumba said interventions such as distributing chlorine, providing health education and treating infected patients were necessary but insufficient without improvements to living conditions in unplanned settlements.
Kalumba cited Kanyama and other unplanned communities in Lusaka, where residents continue to face sanitation challenges, poor waste management and flooding during the rainy season. “People still live in the same environment.
People still access the same quality of water. They still have the same issues to do with waste management and sanitation,” he said.
Kalumba explained that flooding during the rainy season could compromise water quality and make access to safe drinking water more difficult, particularly in densely populated settlements with inadequate drainage and sanitation infrastructure.
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He said public health interventions need to move beyond responding to outbreaks and focus on changing the conditions that allow cholera to spread.
“For as long as you have not altered the environmental factors where people live, whatever interventions you are doing will be temporary,” said Kalumba.
He also called for stronger grassroots public health services, arguing that Zambia needs more personnel to monitor sanitation and environmental conditions within communities throughout the year.
PHAZ President added that public health professionals should continuously assess household sanitation, oversee preventive measures and identify environmental risks before they developed into public health emergencies.
Kalumba further noted that drainage systems were often cleaned in preparation for the rainy season, despite the need for regular maintenance to prevent blockages caused by waste disposal.
“We only start cleaning the drainage systems when it is close to the rainy season. But that should be a continuous practice. It should be a daily thing,” he said.
Kalumba said sustained community monitoring, improved sanitation infrastructure and preventive public health services are essential to reducing the conditions that contributed to recurring cholera outbreaks.
Article by Karen Ngulube
Source: Zambian Business Times — Read more
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