Moz tests cholera vaccine

2003-12-22 21:24

Maputo - Mozambique has launched a widespread vaccination campaign against cholera to reduce the impact of the water-borne disease in the southern African state, the government said on Monday.

"We want to check whether the use of this vaccine, already used by individual European travellers, can be effective in an epidemic situation," Health Minister Fransciso Songane told a news conference.

Songane said the orally administered vaccine, already approved by the UN World Health Organisation (WHO), was currently being administered in the port city of Beira.

Beira, the second largest city in the southern African country, has been seriously hit by cholera epidemics in recent years.

The city has so far registered about 175 cases in the latest outbreak.

Songane said about 50 000 people would be vaccinated with two doses, one now and the other in early January.

The co-ordinator of the vaccination campaign, Marcelino Lucas, said that conclusions from individual administration of the vaccine indicated that immunisation could last for at least two years.

A malaria vaccine has also been tested in Mozambique but results have not yet been announced.

Between 200 000 and 300 000 malaria related deaths are recorded annually in Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The disease is the largest cause of death in Mozambique, particularly among women and children under five years.

- SAPA