Cholera prevention initiative underway

The Lusaka City Council (LCC) has taken proactive measures to prevent recurring cholera outbreaks in the capital city of Zambia by stepping up garbage collection. Cholera outbreaks are frequent during the rainy season, resulting in hundreds of deaths. According to the state-owned Times of Zambia, the council has embarked on a garbage collection drive costing Kwacha 132 million (around US $28,700), to prevent disease in 25 settlements and markets around the city. Town Clerk Francis Muwowo told journalists during a briefing that money had been allocated according to the logistics required during the continuous garbage collection exercise. Several areas in Lusaka, mainly poor townships, have been identified for refuse collection, and monitoring for outbreaks of disease, particularly cholera. These include the sprawling shantytowns of Chawama, John Howard, Kanyama, Freedom, Marrapodi, and Chaisa, the low-income township of Matero and the densely populated middle-class area of Kabwata. Muwowo said the exercise was also being undertaken at Lusaka's Soweto market, the country's largest open-air trading area. The council had received the cooperation of market traders, who had already started cleaning up the precinct. Local Government and Housing minister Sylvia Masebo closed Soweto Market in February this year as part of the measures to control the epidemic, which was at its height. At the time, Lusaka had already recorded 2,482 cases of cholera and 110 deaths. The Danish government's International Development Assistance (DANIDA) is supplementing the local authority's resources for the project. The council has also partnered with private companies to help clean the city's drainage system.