Five years ago, on September 30, 2019, when KP Sharma Oli was prime minister for the second time, the government declared the entire country open-defecation free amid much fanfare. However, years later, thousands of people from across the country are getting infected with diarrheal diseases, including scores from cholera.
Rautahat is among the nine districts reporting cholera outbreaks this year. Ward 4 of Rajpur Municipality has reported over 100 cases of diarrheal infection and hospitalisation. However, the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division said only 12 people from the municipality had so far contracted cholera.
“Over 100 diarrheal patients from the municipality’s ward 4 have been hospitalised,” Khusid Ahmad, a health worker at the municipality, told the Post over the phone from Rautahat. “Contaminated drinking water could be the culprit for the cholera outbreak there. Samples of drinking water collected from affected areas have been sent for lab tests.”
Apart from Rautahat, eight other districts—Lalitpur, Kathmandu, Kailali, Pyuthan, Makawanpur, Rolpa, Sindhupalchok, and Achham—have also reported cholera outbreaks this year. So far, the number of diarrheal patients who have contracted cholera is 95. Interestingly, most of the districts that have witnessed outbreaks of deadly cholera this year had years ago been declared open defecation-free.
The Vibrio cholera 01 Ogawa serotype has been confirmed in the stool samples of the infected patients. Doctors say that detected cases of cholera infection could be just the tip of the iceberg, as most positive cases are being reported from the districts with active surveillance.
Public health experts say outbreaks of cholera in multiple districts, even five years after the country was declared open defecation-free, show a huge gap between official declarations and progress on the ground.
They say outbreaks of diarrheal diseases, including cholera, are directly linked to drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene conditions, and the country was declared open defecation-free without improving water and sanitation conditions.