World Vision responds to Acute Watery Diarrhea escalation across the country
The first Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD) case was reported in November 2015 in Moyale in Oromia region. Then the outbreak spread to Somali, Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples’ (SNNP), Afar, and Amhara Regions and the Addis Ababa City Administration.
According to the WASH Cluster draft appeal report, AWD outbreaks had been reported in 16 zones and in all 10 sub-cities of Addis Ababa as of 31 July 2016. The report shows that a total of 9,155 AWD cases and 49 deaths had been reported from these regions, with 58% of the cases in Addis Ababa.
24 WV Ethiopia’s operation areas, mainly in Oromia region are at risk of AWD. Shashemene is among AWD affected districts in Oromia Region. In Shahemene 69 cases have been reported (two out of these were confirmed dead) since the outbreak in mid-June 2016, said Dres Gelaye, Emergency Public Health Focal Person of Shashemene District. The disease has been spreading to adjoining districts such as Abaya where 212 AWD cases and three deaths have been reported.
WV Ethiopia along with the government undertaking various activities allocating over $100,000 from internal funding to tackle the situation focusing on prevention and control through hygiene and sanitation promotion, community awareness raising activities; de-sludge of public latrines, provision of water treatment chemicals; and water storage provision and construction.
WV Ethiopia Abaya AP providing medical supplies, water treatment chemicals, logistics support for Acute Watery Diarrhea Treatment Centers in a bid to prevention & control the spread of the outbreak
“Patients come with vomiting and diarrhea. We are standby. So far 11 AWD cases have been admitted here. All got well and discharged after receiving advice,” said Rediet Shiferaw, case manager for Qersa Acute Watery Diarrhea Treatment Center in Shashemene district. Finally, the house of the patient and all the stuff in the house disinfected in order to contain the spread of the disease, she added.
Budheshe Shundhe, 32 and a mother of two is among the AWD survivors in Shashemene district. She was admitted to Qersa AWD treatment center in mid-July 2016. “I had diarrhea and vomiting because we drink and use unprotected river water or rainwater,” she said. I stayed four days at the center and now I am very happy because I am reunited with my family and children and working, she added.
Tadesse Dassa, 50 and a father of 12 and a grandfather of 21 is another AWD survivor in Abaya District of the Oromia Region. “It was around mid-July that I was thirsty and drunk river water on my way to home. When I arrived home I immediately began vomiting and diarrhea. I survived but the very sad story is my grandson (an 8-year-old boy) was died,” Tadess explained with sorrow.
In areas such as Abaya and Shahemene districts, where access to clean water is very low, people have no choice but use unprotected water. Elsewhere in these communities, people fetch water for drinking and household consumptions from the same river where they take baths, wash their clothes, and even sharing with livestock.
The current response for the situation by WV is commendable but not lasting solution say members of the communities; appealing to WV to further intensify the intervention particularly on WASH so that to extricate them from such challenges sustainably.