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Description of the crisis
Zambia faced a significant cholera outbreak that posed severe public health challenges, particularly in densely populated urban areas such as Lusaka. The outbreak was driven by multiple factors, including the rainy season's impact on water contamination and longstanding issues with sanitation and clean water access. A cholera outbreak which was first reported in October 2023 saw a dramatic increase in transmission from mid- December 2023 to around midJanuary 2024. The country as of 30/06/2024 had recorded a cumulative 20,102 cases and 740 deaths, with 10 consecutive weeks without any case being recorded according to a daily update from the Ministry of Health1 resulting in a cumulative case fatality rate of 3.7%. As of end January 2024 to date, a downward trend has been experienced in almost all the provinces except for Eastern province that recorded a small upward trend in the month of June 2024.
The country experienced its last major outbreak from October 2017 to June 2018 with a total of 5,935 reported cases. The outbreak initially emerged in peri-urban areas of Lusaka Province, just like the current outbreak where Lusaka became the epicenter followed by the Copperbelt province. Due to the high rate of transmission especially between the months of January and February 2024, the outbreak started affecting people across multiple geographical areas especially, Southern, Central and the Copperbelt provinces the later Eastern Province. Since the start of the current cholera outbreak, all the ten provinces had reported confirmed cases of Cholera. Out of 116 districts, 70 have had confirmed outbreaks and had reported cases despite the downward trend. The Cholera affected provinces mentioned above also experienced serious dry spell which has resulted in most of the water sources drying up and serious food shortages affecting most of the households. The dry spell has brought in so many challenges to communities that once suffered the Cholera outbreak impacts and there is high probability of the outbreak repeat especially as we approach the dry season that will be followed by rain season.