HHOHHO REGION RECORDS HIGHEST NUMBER OF DIARRHOEA CASES

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.

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