The district of Mecubúri, located in the north of Nampula province, continues to stand out in terms of misinformation about cholera, an infectious disease which, by the way, is severely affecting the area.

According to a report in the Ikweli newspaper, the population of Mecubúri still believes that diarrheal diseases and cholera are distributed by the government authorities with the aim of reducing the number of people in the communities. For this reason, the inhabitants of Mecubúri do not adhere to health care.

Since last year, the province of Nampula has been plagued by cholera, with the district of Mecubúri being one of the worst affected. In fact, during this period nine people lost their lives to cholera, out of a total of 300 registered cases, a lethality rate considered high by the health authorities, which is a cause for concern.

However, several strategies have been outlined by the health sector to rid the district of the cholera outbreak, but the population denies care, making action difficult.

"In Mecubúri, at the end of last year, a citizen lost his life in the woods after he left the community to escape hospital care," the publication says, noting that allied to misinformation, the population has opted to attack community leaders and destroy their property, including their homes.

The health sector in Nampula has publicly stated that it has run out of steam in convincing the population of Mecubúri to adhere to treatment and abandon misinformation. To remedy the situation, Geraldino Avalinho, head of the Public Health department at the Provincial Health Service in Nampula, is asking the police authorities to intervene.

According to the official, who was speaking last Thursday during the provincial session of the Emergency Operational Committee (COE) in Nampula, it is only by changing the population's behavior and collaborating with the health authorities that it will be possible to stop cholera, giving the example of the Malema district, which has already been declared free of the disease.

"As a province, we have been monitoring the cholera situation in the district of Malema, but in the last 48 hours we have declared an outbreak in the district of Meconta, specifically in the administrative post of Namialo. At the moment, the situation in Malema gives us peace of mind because we've been without any cases for around 20 days, and according to the WHO criteria we can declare Malema district off the affected list," said Geraldino Avalinho.

The same situation as Malema, according to the source, has occurred in the district of Eráti, where there is also a downward trend in the number of cases. "But we are concerned about other districts, especially Mecubúri, which currently has the highest lethality rate, taking into account the number of cases, we are talking about more than 300 registered with 9 deaths," he said.

"Maybe we as a sector have exhausted ourselves as such, although we continue with other communication strategies, but the people who should be the communication link between the health sector and the community are the community leaders, the multipurpose agents, the activists, who unfortunately are also starting to distance themselves because they fear the fury of the population due to this misinformation about the spread of the disease. Maybe it would be time to rely on the police, so that we can guarantee peace of mind," said Avalinho.

Since last October, Nampula province has seen more than 3130 people affected by cholera, with 12 deaths recorded, nine of which occurred in the Mecubúri district.