Minister blames cholera on culture
Jul 30, 2008
THE rigid cultural beliefs on water use among communities in the east sparked off the recent cholera outbreak in the region, according to the water state minister.
By Daniel Edyegu
THE rigid cultural beliefs on water use among communities in the east sparked off the recent cholera outbreak in the region, according to the water state minister.
Jennifer Namuyangu said the people shunned water from safe sources like boreholes and drew dirty water from unprotected wells, streams and rivers.
She made the remark last week while inspecting water points in the areas recently hit by cholera in Manafwa district.
“They say the water from unprotected sources is thick and tastes sweet yet some of the sources that I visited were untidy and surrounded by faeces.â€
The minister cited the rural communities in Butaleja and Pallisa districts, where the safe water coverage is above 50% but the people still consumed water from River Manafwa and shallow wells.
The habit, Namuyangu noted, was common among old people and the illiterate, who even order their spouses to strictly serve them with water from wells or the river.
The cholera epidemic that also affected Mbale district killed 32 people, while 481 cases were recorded in the four districts.
Fred Wamakale, the officer in charge of Bugobero Health Centre, which was the cholera treatment centre in Manafwa, said the disease killed six people in the area.
He added that they had recorded 37 cases and one patient was still admitted at the centre.
The health workers, Wamakale explained, took long to detect the disease due to limited laboratory facilities and the fact that the disease broke out during the harvesting month of April.
“We mistook it to be the acute diarrhoea that people normally suffer when they reap new harvests. So we thought it was just a normal phenomenon that would easily be contained,†he said.
The sub-counties of Bugobero, Bumfumi and Beserenge were the most affected, Wamakale added.
THE rigid cultural beliefs on water use among communities in the east sparked off the recent cholera outbreak in the region, according to the water state minister.
Jennifer Namuyangu said the people shunned water from safe sources like boreholes and drew dirty water from unprotected wells, streams and rivers.
She made the remark last week while inspecting water points in the areas recently hit by cholera in Manafwa district.
“They say the water from unprotected sources is thick and tastes sweet yet some of the sources that I visited were untidy and surrounded by faeces.â€
The minister cited the rural communities in Butaleja and Pallisa districts, where the safe water coverage is above 50% but the people still consumed water from River Manafwa and shallow wells.
The habit, Namuyangu noted, was common among old people and the illiterate, who even order their spouses to strictly serve them with water from wells or the river.
The cholera epidemic that also affected Mbale district killed 32 people, while 481 cases were recorded in the four districts.
Fred Wamakale, the officer in charge of Bugobero Health Centre, which was the cholera treatment centre in Manafwa, said the disease killed six people in the area.
He added that they had recorded 37 cases and one patient was still admitted at the centre.
The health workers, Wamakale explained, took long to detect the disease due to limited laboratory facilities and the fact that the disease broke out during the harvesting month of April.
“We mistook it to be the acute diarrhoea that people normally suffer when they reap new harvests. So we thought it was just a normal phenomenon that would easily be contained,†he said.
The sub-counties of Bugobero, Bumfumi and Beserenge were the most affected, Wamakale added.