GWERU Health and Child Welfare minister Henry Madzorera yesterday said Treasury will release $600 000 next week to curb the spread of typhoid.
This follows reports the diarrhoeal disease, which has so far claimed two lives out of an estimated 3 400 cases, continues to spread to other parts of the country with more than 200 new cases reported nationally each week.
Madzorera told NewsDay on the sidelines of the commissioning of the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society (ZRCS) warehouse in Gweru that there was need to accelerate awareness of typhoid in the 30 districts that have been mapped.
We have done a lot as a ministry to fight typhoid, but there is, however, need to accelerate typhoid awareness in the 30 districts that we have mapped, he said.
To this end as a ministry we are going to receive between $500 000 to $600 000 next week from the Ministry of Finance to raise awareness of typhoid. This money is specifically for awareness.
Madzorera said the campaign would target both high and low-risk typhoid areas throughout the country. Meanwhile, ZRCS national programmes coordinator Calvin Matsinde said construction of the warehouse had cost $217 000 with the bulk of the money coming from the Norwegian Red Cross Society.
This warehouse, which took 12 months to complete, will store relief material ranging from food and non-food items, he said.
Matsinde said the warehouse was open for use by all humanitarian agencies operating in Midlands Province.
