Cholera, diarrhea and other water-borne diseases are on the rise in Cabo Delgado due to war damage in that northern Mozambican province, the International Red Cross Committee (ICRC) warned on Monday..

"The rapid displacement of the population and limited access to drinking water sources in the precarious settlements have caused an increase in waterborne diseases such as cholera and diarrhea," reads a statement that takes stock of ICRC Director of Operations Dominik Stillhart's three-day visit to the region.

"I think it's important to pay close attention to what's happening," Dominik Stillhart noted, stressing that the available water "doesn't meet any public health standards" because of the lack of supply and sanitation networks, which were already weak before the conflict.

The number of cholera cases in Cabo Delgado was 3,400 at the beginning of August compared to 2,200 cases at the same time in 2020, an increase of 54%, according to World Health Organization (WHO) data, exemplifies the ICRC. 

The organization also indicates that in the first half of this year 28,602 cases of diarrhea were recorded in the province "becoming the second leading cause of death among children under five." 

Health centers are unable to respond to the problem: 80% do not function in the nine most affected districts, and those that function in the other districts are overwhelmed with some 800,000 displaced people who have fled the violence - and in addition to the conflict, the province has been hit cyclically by devastating floods.

In line with the concern expressed by the operations director, the ICRC is working with local authorities to "rehabilitate water, sanitation and health infrastructure and build new ones." 

Given the vulnerability to climate impacts, "all of ICRC's new rehabilitation and construction projects are systematically designed and built with resilient infrastructure," he added.

Among the spaces to be built is a new hospital on Ibo Island, the only health facility serving the Quirimbas archipelago, which extends off Cabo Delgado.

Lusa Agency