Humanitarian agencies are on the frontline of the response to a cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal. [Picture: @alimdaad/Twitter]
Non-profit organisations like the Al-Imdaad Foundation have been at the forefront of the humanitarian response to the recent cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal, near Pretoria. The outbreak inundated the local hospital and claimed more than a dozen lives.
Speaking in an interview on Salaamedia, the Al Imdaad Foundation’s project coordinator, Hassan Shazi, said the NGO was actively involved in delivering safe water to the Hammanskraal community amid the outbreak.
“The Al-Imdaad Foundation was activated by the Tshwane water management as well as the donors, to go and respond to the ongoing water crisis in Hammanskraal. We are responding with two superlinks, which is bottled water, and then we also involved local traditional authorities,” he said.
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Water distribution in Hammanskraal
Although the matter is still under investigation, speculation is rife that the cholera outbreak stemmed from poor water quality in the area. Residents have since berated the Tshwane Municipality, some even vowing to stay away from the polls next year.
Shazi said the Foundation was distributing water to the most needy in the area, within the community and without. He said this was being done through community centres – schools and clinics – with the help of volunteers from nearby towns. The distribution points, he said, were located in Kekana.
“We need to assist the people that are most-needy, whether it’s out of town or we have to travel a few kilometres. Teams were active on the ground … The situation at the moment is very dire.”
He added that the water was safe for human consumption as it had been through rigorous checks. “We had to go through stringent protocols and safety regulations to test our water tanker to ensure that the water we are giving to the community is safe for human consumption.”
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Downward trend
Health minister Joe Phaahla on Wednesday reported that there was a downward trend in the number of cholera cases. He noted that Tshwane remained the epicentre of the outbreak, although cases had been identified in neighbouring Johannesburg and parts of the Free State province.
“The number of deaths was 17 in seven days. In the subsequent seven days, from 24 to 30 May, the number was reduced to 30 patients with an average of four patients per day and a total of two deaths,” he said.
The minister further announced that the first reported case was from a 59-year-old man in Giyani, Limpopo; meaning interprovincial transmission could have sparked the outbreak.
Inayet Wadee spoke to Hassan Shazi about the Al Imdaad Foundation’s response to the cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal. Listen to the full interview here.
