Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.zimgossip.com/?p=1080
Measles kill 30 and church refuses treatment
By Group Editor December 22, 2009
A MEASLES outbreak continues to wreak havoc in Nyazura?s Nzvimbe area, killing at least 30 people, mostly vulnerable children and women members of Johanne Marange Apostolic Church, who are entrenching their resistance to vital life-saving interventions.
The majority of the victims were aged between 1-10 years, while other cases ranged between 13-40 years have been reported.
At least 29 patients were detained at a satellite clinic set up at Nzvimbe Primary School, with 13 others having been treated and discharged on the same day, while 17 had been discharged on Monday.
Religious and cultural beliefs, coupled with mobility bottlenecks, have been cited as major challenges militating against emergency health interventions to combat the spread of the viral disease.
When The News crew toured the measles hotspot of Nzvimbe on Tuesday, there were loud calls from villagers for the enforcement of the Public Health Act to ensure apostolic sect members? compliance with measles treatment.
This, they said, was the only way the disease could be halted or its negative impact reduced in the poverty-hit and crammed
area.
The spread of the disease was accelerating in Villages 9, 4, 3, and 12 ? where health sources said mortality statistics could be much higher than projected, as church members could be dying at home and fast-tracking burials.
Members of the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church, who dominate the area, are allegedly refusing to take treatment on the basis of religious beliefs and are accused of fleeing with patients to secluded places, where they treat them with holy water instead of the recommended warm saline, antipruritic medication and tepid sponge baths and cool mist vaporiser to relieve cough.
In some cases, church members lock up their sick relatives and deny having sick family members.Denial of treatment was regardless of clear evidence of the majority of their colleagues being needlessly wiped out by the treatable disease.
By digging in, church members are posing a threat to their neighbours, who this week blasted them for ignorantly ?harbouring and causing the spreading of the dangerous measles disease.?
?Since my birth in 1929, I have not seen such a catastrophe. These people should be arrested for resisting treatment and putting the health of our children in danger.
?These apostolic elements are a danger to our community because they are the conduits through which this dangerous measles disease is spreading.
?The most painful thing is that many of the victims are children and women, yet we all know that denying them treatment is a violation of their fundamental rights and unpardonable transgression,? said Mr Machona Bumhira.
Mr Bumhira?s bitter sentiments were echoed by Mrs Susan Chidhakwa, who said the Government must engage and persuade sect leaders Messers Noah Taguta and Clemence Momberume to encourage their church members to take treatment.
?They should demystify fundamentalism within the church; in fact, they should come here and see the disaster for themselves and see if it is worth sacrificing innocent children and their mothers for religious prestige.
?Very few are responding positively, as the majority of church members were still whisking away their sick relatives or locking them up,? said Mrs Chidhakwa.
The Johanne Marange Apostolic Church is widely seen in the area as a deceptive and secretive community that does not go public about its issues.
Village head Mr Chokore Matide said after realising that they were dealing with community that was ignorant, deceptive and secretive about its issues, set up a committee to work closely with the health officials deployed in the area to wrestle all sick members of the church.
?All other churches, except Mapostori ekwa Johanne Marange are cooperative. Vapositori are dying in large numbers and this negatively impacts on the whole community.
?I want to appeal to them to seek treatment and those who refuse may be punished as it puts the lives of mostly their children, on the wire,? said village head Matide.
The village head added that he has set up a dragnet squad to sniff out at least 10 critically ill apostolic members, whose
whereabouts were unknown after having been whisked away to secluded areas where they are believed to be getting holy-water and prayers.
He said the dragnet squad wrestled five children from Makoni area and four from the Marenga family ? aged between 1-13 years, who have since been detained at a satellite clinic.
?We have a responsibility to save lives; we could not just sit and watch them violating the rights of children and women. It is a pity that such high magnitude of ignorance is still with us 30 years after independence,? said the traditional leader.
The village head bemoaned the death last week, of four children from the Gora and Chinamira families as a result of the disease.
An apostolic member, Ms Sophia Marenga said religious adherence was not worth anyone?s death, because if the parents die, the children become unnecessarily orphaned.
?We acted the way we did out of ignorance, but we have since been equipped with the necessary information and now know that holy water does not treat measles. When I came here, I was not sure if all my four children would make it, but they are responding well to treatment.
I want to urge my fellow church members to stop running away with their sick members to the hills to avoid detection by mobile health teams; they are here to save life, and not to adulterate our religious beliefs,? she said.
The villagers also bemoaned the lack of a health centre in their area, arguing that in some case they had to travel for 30km to the nearest Nyamidzi Clinic, which resulted in some patients dying along the way.
The latest incident being that of Mr Eriya Maradza, who died early Tuesday morning after being attacked by the disease.?We are appealing for an ambulance to assist with the transportation of patients to the health point given the criticalness of the outbreak. We are Mr Judah Muchati, of Village 9.
The villagers were also appealing for the provision of nutritional supplements, scaled up access to safe water in the short term and awareness campaign on measles prevention.
Health authorities in the district also urged development partners to assist to effectively combat the disease.Measles is a highly communicable disease characterised by fever, general malaise, sneezing, nasal congestion, brassy cough, conjunctivitis, and a maculopapular eruption over the entire body which health experts say is caused by a virus called rubeola.
Its symptoms include drowsiness, loss of appetite, gradual elevation of temperature for the first two days, body rash on the inner cheek, high fever, recurrence rash appears (causing a swollen, mottled appearance) and coughing.
More on Zimbabwe Measles cases:
http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=129551
Measles kill 30 and church refuses treatment
By Group Editor December 22, 2009
A MEASLES outbreak continues to wreak havoc in Nyazura?s Nzvimbe area, killing at least 30 people, mostly vulnerable children and women members of Johanne Marange Apostolic Church, who are entrenching their resistance to vital life-saving interventions.
The majority of the victims were aged between 1-10 years, while other cases ranged between 13-40 years have been reported.
At least 29 patients were detained at a satellite clinic set up at Nzvimbe Primary School, with 13 others having been treated and discharged on the same day, while 17 had been discharged on Monday.
Religious and cultural beliefs, coupled with mobility bottlenecks, have been cited as major challenges militating against emergency health interventions to combat the spread of the viral disease.
When The News crew toured the measles hotspot of Nzvimbe on Tuesday, there were loud calls from villagers for the enforcement of the Public Health Act to ensure apostolic sect members? compliance with measles treatment.
This, they said, was the only way the disease could be halted or its negative impact reduced in the poverty-hit and crammed
area.
The spread of the disease was accelerating in Villages 9, 4, 3, and 12 ? where health sources said mortality statistics could be much higher than projected, as church members could be dying at home and fast-tracking burials.
Members of the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church, who dominate the area, are allegedly refusing to take treatment on the basis of religious beliefs and are accused of fleeing with patients to secluded places, where they treat them with holy water instead of the recommended warm saline, antipruritic medication and tepid sponge baths and cool mist vaporiser to relieve cough.
In some cases, church members lock up their sick relatives and deny having sick family members.Denial of treatment was regardless of clear evidence of the majority of their colleagues being needlessly wiped out by the treatable disease.
By digging in, church members are posing a threat to their neighbours, who this week blasted them for ignorantly ?harbouring and causing the spreading of the dangerous measles disease.?
?Since my birth in 1929, I have not seen such a catastrophe. These people should be arrested for resisting treatment and putting the health of our children in danger.
?These apostolic elements are a danger to our community because they are the conduits through which this dangerous measles disease is spreading.
?The most painful thing is that many of the victims are children and women, yet we all know that denying them treatment is a violation of their fundamental rights and unpardonable transgression,? said Mr Machona Bumhira.
Mr Bumhira?s bitter sentiments were echoed by Mrs Susan Chidhakwa, who said the Government must engage and persuade sect leaders Messers Noah Taguta and Clemence Momberume to encourage their church members to take treatment.
?They should demystify fundamentalism within the church; in fact, they should come here and see the disaster for themselves and see if it is worth sacrificing innocent children and their mothers for religious prestige.
?Very few are responding positively, as the majority of church members were still whisking away their sick relatives or locking them up,? said Mrs Chidhakwa.
The Johanne Marange Apostolic Church is widely seen in the area as a deceptive and secretive community that does not go public about its issues.
Village head Mr Chokore Matide said after realising that they were dealing with community that was ignorant, deceptive and secretive about its issues, set up a committee to work closely with the health officials deployed in the area to wrestle all sick members of the church.
?All other churches, except Mapostori ekwa Johanne Marange are cooperative. Vapositori are dying in large numbers and this negatively impacts on the whole community.
?I want to appeal to them to seek treatment and those who refuse may be punished as it puts the lives of mostly their children, on the wire,? said village head Matide.
The village head added that he has set up a dragnet squad to sniff out at least 10 critically ill apostolic members, whose
whereabouts were unknown after having been whisked away to secluded areas where they are believed to be getting holy-water and prayers.
He said the dragnet squad wrestled five children from Makoni area and four from the Marenga family ? aged between 1-13 years, who have since been detained at a satellite clinic.
?We have a responsibility to save lives; we could not just sit and watch them violating the rights of children and women. It is a pity that such high magnitude of ignorance is still with us 30 years after independence,? said the traditional leader.
The village head bemoaned the death last week, of four children from the Gora and Chinamira families as a result of the disease.
An apostolic member, Ms Sophia Marenga said religious adherence was not worth anyone?s death, because if the parents die, the children become unnecessarily orphaned.
?We acted the way we did out of ignorance, but we have since been equipped with the necessary information and now know that holy water does not treat measles. When I came here, I was not sure if all my four children would make it, but they are responding well to treatment.
I want to urge my fellow church members to stop running away with their sick members to the hills to avoid detection by mobile health teams; they are here to save life, and not to adulterate our religious beliefs,? she said.
The villagers also bemoaned the lack of a health centre in their area, arguing that in some case they had to travel for 30km to the nearest Nyamidzi Clinic, which resulted in some patients dying along the way.
The latest incident being that of Mr Eriya Maradza, who died early Tuesday morning after being attacked by the disease.?We are appealing for an ambulance to assist with the transportation of patients to the health point given the criticalness of the outbreak. We are Mr Judah Muchati, of Village 9.
The villagers were also appealing for the provision of nutritional supplements, scaled up access to safe water in the short term and awareness campaign on measles prevention.
Health authorities in the district also urged development partners to assist to effectively combat the disease.Measles is a highly communicable disease characterised by fever, general malaise, sneezing, nasal congestion, brassy cough, conjunctivitis, and a maculopapular eruption over the entire body which health experts say is caused by a virus called rubeola.
Its symptoms include drowsiness, loss of appetite, gradual elevation of temperature for the first two days, body rash on the inner cheek, high fever, recurrence rash appears (causing a swollen, mottled appearance) and coughing.
More on Zimbabwe Measles cases:
http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=129551
