![\"Cholera](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image_2024-01-11_131615906-696x457.png\" "\\"Cholera")
\nCholera is an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by consuming contaminated food or water<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema has urged people to relocate from towns to villages following the deaths of about 300 people in a cholera outbreak.<\/p>\n
Poor sanitation in some densely populated urban areas was a good breeding ground for cholera, he said.<\/p>\n
To decongest major towns, residents should relocate to rural areas where there was enough space and \u201cperfect sanitation\u201d, Mr Hichilema added.<\/p>\n
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More than 7,500 cholera cases have been reported nationwide since last October.<\/p>\n
In the last 24 hours, there were more than 500 new cases and 17 deaths, the health ministry said.<\/p>\n
The reopening of schools has been delayed as part of a series of preventative measures.<\/p>\n
The disease has so far spread to eight of Zambia\u2019s 10 provinces.<\/p>\n
The World Health Organization (WHO) is to send about one million cholera vaccine doses in the coming days in a bid to contain the outbreak.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Mr Hichilema visited the Heroes Stadium Cholera Treatment Centre, where there are more than 1,000 patients, in the capital, Lusaka.<\/p>\n He said the government would take some \u201chard to swallow\u201d measures in an effort to eradicate the waterborne disease.<\/p>\n He appeared to blame some Zambians who moved to towns \u201cwithout a clear objective\u201d for the mushrooming of poorly planned informal settlements.<\/p>\n Some young people were \u201changing around and doing nothing\u201d in towns instead of moving to rural areas to farm, the president said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is so much land in the villages, there is clean water. We can build nice homes in the villages, which are not polluted,\u201d Mr Hichilema said.<\/p>\n The authorities would upgrade existing slums in towns, and .prevent the emergence of new ones, he added.<\/p>\n Neighbouring Mozambique and Zimbabwe have heightened surveillance to prevent cross-border transmission.<\/p>\n For months now, Zimbabwe has also been battling to stem the spread of cholera because the country lacks clean water.<\/p>\n The bacterial disease is spread by contaminated water or food, and causes severe dehydration from vomiting and diarrhoea. It can kill within hours if left untreated.2<\/p>\n MORE: <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"Hakainde](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/_132275636_ff5782e5-6b48-457f-ac5e-c1fafae77769.jpg\")