Red Cross donates to cholera mitigation

SANFROSSA MANYINDA writes

@SunZambian

The Zambia Red Cross Society has donated chlorine and hand washing soaps worth K192,488 to the Lusaka District Health Office in its cholera preparedness and response contingency plan.

Society Secretary General Kaitano Chungu said that the bottles of chlorine were bought at K65, 500 while the tablets of soap cost K126, 988.

Mr Chungu was speaking in Lusaka yesterday when he handed over 5, 496 bottles of liquid chlorine and 8, 784 tablets of hand washing soap all valued of K 192, 488.

He said that the Society had for a long time partnered with the government of through the Ministry of Health in strengthening epidemic preparedness and response measures.

He said that the Society had also mobilized and deployed 55 volunteers who were conducting hygiene promotion and sensitization on cholera covering households in communities considered to be hotspots within Chipata sub district at a cost of K156,000.

“The hygienic promotion programme will initially run for one month with possible expansion in scope and extension depending on the evolution of the epidemic,

“We have also procured 10 oral rehydration point kits that will be used for community case management and safe referral in conjunction with the ministry of health at a cost of K120,000,” he said.

He emphasized that the Society would continue to partner with government and other stakeholders to fulfill its auxiliary mandate through provision of various services to vulnerable people both in development and emergency situations.

And receiving the donation, Lusaka District Commissioner Captain Davison Mulenga applauded the approach that had been spearheaded by the Society.

Capt. Mulenga said that the donation would go a long way in ensuring that cholera was curbed in the district that had always not been spared by the outbreak every year.

And a Public Health Specialist Dr. Masumba Masaninga assured that the donated items would go to the intended people.