With a drinking water distribution network out of service after the passage of Cyclone Chido, some Mahorais have no other solution than to consume polluted water. A situation which worries health authorities and which raises fears of the emergence of epidemics, including cholera.
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Almost all the conditions are met to facilitate the start of an epidemic in Mayotte. The sanitation and water distribution network has no longer functioned since the devastating passage of Cyclone Chido. To get supplies, the Mahorais go to the well or the river. Which is not without risk.
Consuming contaminated water can cause the spread of bacteria or viruses. Diseases transmitted by unclean water, such as cholera, could thus reappear in the archipelago and worsen the tragedy already suffered by the populations. Last spring, a cholera epidemic had already spread to several slums and left seven dead. Six months later, its effect is still fresh in people’s minds.
This bacterial disease requires rapid diagnosis and treatment. If it appears again in Mayotte, it would be very difficult to stop, the island’s hospital center and dispensaries all being heavily damaged by the passage of the cyclone.
For Hugues, nurse coordinator in medical equipment, visits from ministers and other officials do not help the situation. “ If the ministers come to add delays to us, they can stay at home. When they continue to parade every two days, it blocks downtown Mamoudzou “. Because any additional delay is delicate, while the inhabitants “ walk around with buckets looking for where to find water », he complains to our correspondent in Mayotte, Lola Fourmy.
For nurse Hugo, “We can quickly fear the return of cholera to Mayotte. And if the ministers come to add delays to us, they can stay at home”
Also readMayotte after Cyclone Chido: the major challenge is to “restore access to water”