Ethiopia’s Health ministry has unveiled a national roadmap to control and eliminate cholera in 2028, two years ahead of the global plan.
Health minister Lia Tadesse in a briefing on Tuesday said several cholera outbreaks occurred in the eastern African nation from 2015 to 2021 with over 105,000 cases and resulting in thousands of deaths across the country.
Currently, the pandemic is affecting 11 districts in the country’s south region, she said.
In the past three years, she said more than 10 million doses of cholera vaccines have been administered to five million people but the disease, an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholera, remains a national threat to public health.
According to the ministry’s eight-year Multisector Cholera Elimination roadmap, the country aims at reducing cholera related deaths by 90 percent.
The roadmap, prepared in collaboration with various partner organizations, plans to ramp up responses focusing on priority districts to achieve the target.
The national plan designates 118 districts with a total population of more than 15 million in priority areas.
MG/as/APA