Times Of Swaziland: HHOHHO REGION RECORDS HIGHEST NUMBER OF DIARRHOEA CASES

HHOHHO REGION RECORDS HIGHEST NUMBER OF DIARRHOEA CASES
================================================================================
Myhunzi Mdluli on 19/10/2022 07:16:00


MBABANE – The Hhohho Region has recorded the highest number of diarrhoea cases
in the last two weeks.
Recording the lowest cases was the Shiselweni Region. This is according to a
report released by the Epidemiology and Disease Control Unit in the Ministry of
Health on October 17, 2022. The report revealed that 1918 diarrhoeal cases  were
reported through Client Management Information System (CMIS) from health
facilities, with the Hhohho Region having the highest number of cases reported
at 31 per cent and the least from Shiselweni Region at 20 per cent. The Lubombo
Region recorded the second highest diarrhoeal cases with 26 per cent and the
Manzini Region had the third highest number of diarrhoea cases at 23 per cent.
The Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Simon Zwane said an
increase in the number of diarrhoeal cases was noted in the past weeks, with
high number of cases on week 40 and a slight decline in the cases on week 41. He
said the recent reports served as a build-up from that report and focused on
analysis for the past two epidemiological weeks 40 and 41 from October 2 to
October 15, 2022. He said the report also looked at the national picture and
zoned down to the regional picture of the diarrhoeal cases.  Worth noting is
that on the first report released on October 7, 2022, nine cases of diarrhoea
were reported in some parts of the country. Cases from the Manzini Region were
discovered to be on the rise when compared to the pattern of the diarroheal
cases reported in the last two years (2020-2021). The PS then told emaSwati not
panic regarding the recorded diarrhoeal cases.
The month of September 2022 had by far the highest number of diarrhoeal cases
reported by months since the year 2020, which is 998.This spike started to show
from around April 2022 and the cases seem to be on an upward trend. The report
also indicated that in the past two months, in the Shiselweni Region, an
increase in the diarroheal cases was also observed in both the under
five-year-olds and those above the age of five years old.
Dr Zwane said the data from both sentinel sites and from other facilities in the
country showed a similar trend.
He said there was a slight increase in diarrhoeal cases especially in the month
of September, which had not called for an alarm compared to the past years. The
report by the ministry indicated that certain measures had been taken to ensure
that it was in the right track regarding diarrhoea cases.
One of the taken actions to strengthen surveillance through distribution of line
lists was distributed to facilities, including private facilities, which would
allow mapping of clusters in the communities. The report also stated that the
sentinel surveillance is ongoing for both rotavirus and diarrhoea monitoring. It
also stated that RRTs were investigating cases and facilities have been
sensitised to take samples for rotavirus and other pathogens while upscaling
diarrhoea health talks in health facilities.