The Ministry of Health and Social Services deserves recognition for the urgency and coordination it has shown in responding to the threat of poliovirus in the Kavango East and Kavango West regions. The rapid rollout of a preventative vaccination campaign targeting children under the age of 10, the mobilisation of international partners, and the strengthening of surveillance systems all reflect a ministry that understands the gravity of polio and the catastrophic consequences of complacency.
The detection of poliovirus type 2 through environmental surveillance at Ndama sewage could easily have been dismissed or delayed. Instead, it triggered action. The involvement of the World Health Organization, the clinician sensitisation meeting at Rundu Intermediate Hospital, and the financial support of N$2.1 million announced by WHO’s Namibia representative show a system capable of acting decisively when alarms are raised. The contribution of the Angolan Consulate in Rundu, modest as it may seem, highlights the importance of cross-border cooperation in public health, especially when neighbouring countries are confirming cases of vaccine-derived poliovirus.
This is how a public health response should look: early detection, swift communication, community mobilisation, and transparency about risk. The ministry has been clear that Namibia remains at high risk due to low acute flaccid paralysis detection in bordering districts. That honesty is commendable. Acknowledging vulnerability is not weakness; it is the first step toward resilience.
However, the same clarity and urgency are conspicuously lacking in the response to the cholera outbreak in Grootfontein.
In just three weeks, suspected cholera cases have risen from one to 50. Ten cases have been laboratory-confirmed, two patients are hospitalised, and the outbreak is concentrated in the Kap and Bou and Blikkiesdorp informal settlements. While no deaths have been reported, this is not a comfort. Cholera is a fast-moving, waterborne disease that thrives in precisely the conditions residents and health officials describe: overcrowding, inadequate sanitation, and limited access to clean water. With the rainy season approaching, the risk of escalation is real and immediate.
To its credit, the ministry has activated an Incident Management System, deployed support teams, intensified surveillance, and supplied rapid diagnostic test kits. Training has been conducted, cleaners have been capacitated, and education campaigns are underway. These are necessary steps, but they are not sufficient given the pace of the outbreak and the structural conditions driving it.
More troubling than logistical constraints is the growing perception that information about the cholera situation is being tightly controlled. Public health thrives on trust, and trust is built on transparency. When communities feel that facts are being withheld, delayed, or sanitised, cooperation erodes. People stop reporting symptoms, rumours fill the vacuum, and preventable outbreaks become harder to contain.
The Windhoek Observer is deeply concerned by reports that officials within the system who share information with the public face internal pressure or risk punitive action. If true, this approach is not only counterproductive, but also dangerous. Public servants, health workers, and local officials are often the first to see what is unfolding on the ground. Silencing them does not protect the ministry; it exposes the public to greater harm.
The ministry must resist any temptation to manage outbreaks through public relations rather than public health. Cholera does not respond to carefully worded statements or delayed disclosures. It responds to clean water, adequate sanitation, sufficient toilets, rapid isolation, and honest communication. Community members in Grootfontein have already voiced their frustration: water deliveries are insufficient, sanitation facilities are lacking, and the outbreak appears to be moving faster than the response. These voices should be amplified, not ignored.
Transparency also means acknowledging systemic challenges without defensiveness. The ministry itself has admitted to shortages of isolation facilities, transport, health education materials, and diagnostic tests. It has acknowledged that water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure in affected communities remains poor. These are not failures of individual officials; they are longstanding structural issues that require coordinated action across government, including local authorities and municipalities.
What the public needs now is clear, regular, and detailed communication: how many cases are suspected and confirmed, what resources are available, what gaps remain, and what concrete steps are being taken to address them. This information empowers communities to protect themselves and holds all stakeholders accountable.
The contrast between the polio and cholera responses offers an important lesson. In the polio campaign, the ministry has been proactive, open about risks, and willing to lean on partners and public messaging. In the cholera outbreak, the response appears more guarded, reactive, and constrained by concerns beyond immediate public health. That disparity must be corrected.
Namibia cannot afford a culture of silence during health emergencies. Diseases do not respect hierarchy, image management, or internal politics. They exploit delay, denial, and disconnection. The ministry has shown with polio that it can act decisively and transparently. It must now bring that same resolve to Grootfontein.
The Windhoek Observer urges the Ministry of Health and Social Services to recommit to openness, to protect, not punish, those who inform the public, and to treat transparency as a core tool of disease control. In public health, the truth is not the enemy. It is the cure.
