City Of Harare | Council employs raft of measures to combat Cholera

Council is implementing a cocktail of measures including stopping water rationing in the western suburbs and clearing sewer blockages in all hot spots as it intensifies its efforts to combat Cholera. The City has also installed water storage tanks despite having boreholes in the affected areas and improved the water supply in the affected areas to combat the spread of cholera. Acting water production manager Engineer Charles Chinyanya said Council taken it upon itself to ensure that residents have clean water. “We have since stopped water rationing from Morton Jaffray to western suburbs and targeting clearance of all sewer blockages in all cholera hot spots,” he said. Acting city epidemiologist Dr Michael Vere said Council has conducted medium to short term activities in order to improve water quality and the amount of water received in the affected areas. “We have sourced point of use water treatment tablets eg aqua tabs and we are in the process of procuring water guard in order to supply these areas so that people can get clean water especially drinking water,” he said. Harare City Council has joined hands with MSF and GOAL in carrying out awareness campaigns in the affected areas and the rest of Harare. Dr Vere urged residents to report any suspected cholera case to the nearest clinic. “I would like to encourage residents to be on the lookout for anyone with cholera symptoms so that they can quickly get assistance at the nearest clinic,” he said. He that the country has applied for Cholera vaccines through the ICG, and Council awaits its arrival although dates have not been announced. Amenities manager Lisbern Chipfunde said the Cholera outbreak requires a hand in glove approach, hence his division is collecting refuse on a weekly basis. ‘’We are making sure that we comply to the weekly door to door refuse collection schedule,” he said. Chipfunde said City of Harare has procured additional tipper trucks to extent its coverage in waste management. ‘’We are now awaiting the delivery of the tipper trucks,’’ he said. He said the division will improve its door to door refuse collection measures through alternative collection systems.