Health ministers from the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), have rejected a proposal to declare cholera a public health emergency in the region.
The Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC) board chairperson, Sylvia Masebo said individual countries should independently decide whether to declare the cholera outbreak as a health emergency or not.
Speaking during the CDC extraordinary session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Ms Masebo, who is also Zambia’s health minister, urged member states to develop proactive interventions to curb the spread of the current outbreak which had affected about 15 Sadc member states.
Zambia is among countries battling the worst outbreak in decades, with nearly 600 deaths and more than 16,000 cases reported since last October.
Meanwhile, Sadc leaders are set to hold a virtual summit on Friday to assess the state of preparedness and responses to the cholera outbreaks in the region.
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