Harare — Nineteen more children have died of measles in Makoni District in recent weeks, prompting members of apostolic sects to go against their beliefs by accepting immunisation.

This brings the death toll to 41 since November. All children between the ages of nine months and 14 years must be immunised against measles.

Some apostolic sects have refused to get their children inoculated, citing religious beliefs that prohibit them from either consulting doctors or taking medicine.

However, the rising death toll has seen some of them having a change of heart and approaching Health Ministry officials so that their children are protected from the disease.

The news of the increasing death toll followed confirmation that one person died of cholera at Vere Clinic in Kadoma this week while six others were treated for the disease in the town and in Seke.

According to the World Health Organisation, there are now 1 052 suspected measles cases across Zimbabwe of which 161 have been laboratory confirmed. Of the confirmed cases, 81 percent were in the nine months to 14 years age group.

WHO said the majority of the cases were among children who had never been immunised before and whose parents belonged to apostolic sects. Most of the followers were reportedly hiding their children in hills to avoid confrontation with State health officials.

Some members have now started secretly taking their children for immunisation without the leadership's knowledge. Makoni District has recorded 24 deaths and 489 suspected measles cases since November.

Harare, Mutare and Zvishavane are among districts that also recorded high cases of measles outbreak though with fewer deaths. Owing to the continued outbreak, Government is set to review the Child Health Days in an effort to immunise all children in the country against the seven child killer diseases.

"A meeting with various stakeholders is planned for next week to discuss the best strategies to contain the current measles outbreak," reads part of WHO's first 2010 bulletin.

Traditionally, children are immunised against measles at the age of nine months during routine immunisation programmes at clinics.

To cater for children who might have missed routine immunisations, Government introduced the Child Health Days during which mobile clinics go around the country to carry out the inoculations.

Measles is a highly contagious disease which causes high fever, skin rash, a running nose, watery eyes and a cough. The disease mainly affects children under the age of five.

Turning to cholera, health officials say 149 cumulative cholera cases and five deaths were reported by January 10 this year. Reports say this year's fatality rate is 1,6 percent lower than last year's figures at the same time.

Health and Child Welfare Deputy Minister Douglas Mombeshora yesterday said Government would continue with nationwide awareness campaigns against cholera and swine flu.

"We have tasked our surveillance teams and district nursing officers nationwide to closely monitor the situation in their districts and report any cases immediately," he said.

He added that the ministry was ready to deal with any surge in cases.

Mashonaland West provincial medical director Dr Wenceslas Nyamayaro recently said the outbreaks reported so far were nowhere near last year's scale and they were on top of the situation.

"It is common to have cases of cholera during the rainy season so we are not worried and we are putting our officers on alert," said Dr Nyamayaro.

Over 4 000 people died in a 2008 outbreak that only ended early in 2009. On swine flu Dr Mombeshora said all infectious diseases hospitals were ready to deal with any cases.

The virus requires quarantining of infected people. Nearly 600 swine flu cases were reported in the country between April and October last year.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe has also started beefing its anti-bird flu structures.

Addressing journalists in Harare yesterday, deputy director of veterinary technical services Dr Pious Makaya said preventative measures were being implemented at provincial level to deal with any outbreaks.

"We have trained rapid response teams in all the country's 10 provinces to deal with any outbreak of the disease.

"We also want to cascade the training programme to district level," he said.

Dr Makaya said they have procured state-of-the-art equipment to capacitate laboratories, as well as protective clothing for health personnel.

He said Zimbabwe could have an outbreak through poultry trade and plans were afoot to train people in the country's boarder towns.

He said the disease was more pathological than swine flu.

"This disease . . . has the capacity of killing thousands of people and more than 80 percent of poultry in the country if adequate preventative measures are not put in place . . .

"It is important for us to take preventative measures before the outbreak.

"This worked very well last year when there was an outbreak of H1N1 (swine flu)."