Few people turn up for cholera vaccination in Namayingo

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Namayingo district registered a low turn up during the just concluded cholera vaccination exercise within the selected risk areas.

The government last week rolled out the cholera vaccination exercise in several cholera hotspots among them Busia and Namayingo. The district which has recurring outbreaks of cholera recorded its biggest outbreak in 2017 with 246 cases registered at different health facilities.

According to a survey conducted by the Namayingo district health team in 2018, 90 percent of the cholera infections originated from the island areas of Sigulu, Bukaana and Dolwe before spreading to the mainland population.

To keep the disease at bay, the Ministry of Health is using the oral cholera vaccine which is administered orally for persons above one year of age to protect them against cholera, a severe, potentially epidemic, life-threatening diarrheal disease. The vaccine which is administered in two doses and given 14-days apart offers individuals protection of up to three years, reducing the risk of getting sick with or dying of cholera.

But Namayingo District Deputy Health Officer Mathias Mangeni says that although they had anticipated vaccinating 158,000 people in the island areas of Bukaana, Sigulu, Dolwe and the sub-counties of Banda, Mutumba and Buhemba, about 83,000 participated in the exercise.

Mangeni says that several island dwellers relocated due to loss of livelihood following a crackdown on illegal fishing by the fisheries protection unit. He adds that although they had been counted during earlier risk assessments, it was impossible to locate them for the vaccination.

Mangeni notes that although they have mobilized village health teams-VHTs to sensitize communities on the different measures to ensure quality sanitation to control the spread of cholera at household levels, toilet coverage in the island and landing site areas remains at an estimate of 32 percent.

However, residents have blamed the government for failing to construct standard pit latrines which can ensure sanitation within the heavily populated island communities.

Fahim Nabwire, a fishmonger at Bumeru landing site says that the cholera cycle has been fueled by the government’s failure to construct pit latrines within their area. “It is not easy for an ordinary resident to construct a pit latrine along the shoreline as the soil levels are near the water surface, however, the authorities meant to construct public toilet facilities have failed to deliver on their promises,” she says.

Ali Musisi, a fisherman along Musoli landing site says that due to the dilapidated state of public latrines, most fishermen have resolved to open defecation.

Elizabeth Kuteesa, another resident from Lwanda village says that their settlement is surrounded by wetlands which cause excess waterflow that blocks pit latrines during rainy seasons.

*****

URN