Health ministers from Southern African countries have said no to a plan to say cholera is a big health problem in the area.
Sylvia Masebo, who is in charge of the Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC) board, said on Wednesday that each country should decide on its own if they want to call the cholera outbreak a health emergency or not.
Speaking at a meeting in Ethiopia, Ms Masebo, who is Zambia’s health minister, asked countries to take action to stop the current outbreak from spreading.
She said that the outbreak had impacted around 15 Sadc member countries.
Zambia has been hit hard by a big outbreak of disease. Almost 600 people have died and over 16,000 people have gotten sick since last October.
The country has had 30 cholera outbreaks since 1977. A charity called WaterAid says the most recent outbreak is the worst since 2017.
The current outbreak of cholera has also affected Zimbabwe and Malawi.
Sadc leaders will have a meeting on the computer on Friday to check how ready they are and how they are dealing with cholera outbreaks in the area.
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Sadc refuses to declare health emergency due to cholera
