Following the deaths of over 300 people as a result of a cholera outbreak, the President of Zambia, Hakainde Hichilema, has expressed his desire for people to transfer from towns to countryside.
According to what he said, the lack of cleanliness in certain highly populated urban areas served as a fertile breeding ground for cholera.
In addition, Mr. Hichilema suggested that residents of major cities should relocate to rural areas where there is sufficient space and "excellent cleanliness" in order to alleviate congestion.
Since October of last year, there have been over 7,500 separate cases of cholera reported across the country.
Over five hundred new cases and seventeen fatalities have been reported in the past twenty-four hours, according to the health ministry.
The reopening of schools has been postponed as a precautionary step as part of a variety of preventative measures.
There are currently eight of Zambia's ten provinces that have been affected by the disease.
Approximately one million doses of the cholera vaccine are going to be distributed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the next days in an effort to bring the outbreak under control.
The Heroes Stadium Cholera Treatment Centre, which is located in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, was visited by Mr. Hichilema on Wednesday. The centre is home to more than one thousand cancer patients.
He stated that the government will implement some steps that were "difficult to stomach" in an endeavour to eradicate the sickness that is transmitted through water.
It seemed as though he was pointing the finger of blame at certain Zambians who had relocated to towns "without a defined aim" for the proliferation of poorly constructed temporary colonies.
The president stated that there were some young people who were "hanging around and doing nothing" in urban areas rather than moving to rural areas to work on farms. This was in contrast to the fact that they were moving to rural areas to work on farms.
A great quantity of land is available to the villages, and they also have access to water that is of high quality. According to Mr. Hichilema, even though the communities are not poisoned, it is still viable to build nice homes in those areas.
Furthermore, he added that the authorities would seek to repair the slums that were already present in the towns and would also work to prevent the establishment of new slums throughout the communities.
Mozambique and Zimbabwe, two nations that are geographically close to one another, have boosted their monitoring efforts in an effort to prevent the disease from spreading to other countries.
Additionally, Zimbabwe has been trying for several months to stop the spread of cholera due to the fact that the country does not have access to clean water. This has proven to be a significant obstacle for the country.
It is possible for the bacterial disease to be transferred through contaminated water or on contaminated food, in addition to causing severe dehydration as a result of vomiting and diarrhoea. In a matter of hours, if it is not treated, it has the potential to result in death.
