In response to the recent cholera epidemic in Mozambique, United Nations announced the allocation of 1.5 million dollars from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the central fund for the response to emergencies of the United Nations – supported also by Italy.
On September 14th, 2022, the Lago district in Niassa province reported the first case of cholera to WHO and, since then, the country has been grappling with a serious epidemic with more than 39,000 cases reported. The areas affected by the epidemic were subject to flooding due to continued rainfall during the rainy season, which worsened the situation. Despite an improvement in the epidemiological trend during the dry season, in September 2023 the situation degenerated again, causing concern.
At the end of November 2023, 19 districts reported new cholera outbreaks, which – doubling in two weeks – have put a strain on the country’s healthcare system, heavily weakened by the Covid-19 pandemic and other diseases such as polio and measles. To fight the epidemic, the Ministry of Health launched an immunization campaign between January 8th and 12th, vaccinating over 2.2 million people in the four districts most affected by the epidemic – Cabo Delgado, Tete, Zambézia and Sofala.
In detail, the budget allocated by CERF for Mozambique will be used to continue to support the government’s efforts in controlling the epidemic, benefiting 214,000 people through interventions in the WASH sector. Since contaminated water represents the main mean of transmission of cholera, actions in the WASH sector are of extreme importance to prevent the spread of the disease.
Since its establishment, Italian Cooperation has invested in CERF according to the annual budget availability from the portion dedicated to humanitarian aid. In light of growing global humanitarian needs, since 2016, Italian support to the United Nations fund has been steadily increasing. In 2022, Italy reached (for the first time since the establishment of CERF) 9th place among the Fund’s donors, with over 17 million dollars. In 2023, the disbursement of 15 million euros allowed to position itself in the group of the main 10 donors of the Fund which currently sees the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Canada, USA, Belgium and Italy.
