Lusaka ‒ Throughout his 30 years as a community-based volunteer, Albert Nkhoma has witnessed his neighbourhood, Kalikiliki, in Zambia’s capital metropolis Lusaka, grapple with public well being challenges, together with the COVID-19 pandemic. Extra lately he labored tirelessly to assist the response to the worst cholera outbreak within the nation’s historical past. All through, his dedication to well being promotion has not wavered.  

Work days might be lengthy and gruelling. “With my group, I am going into the group, generally with the megaphone, to simply inform the folks what they should know. We transfer alongside the highway, discuss to folks there, or go door to door to speak about hygiene, to speak about good well being,” he says.

Nkhoma’s group work started within the mid-Nineties with educating moms concerning the significance of childhood immunization. He may by no means have imagined that, twenty years later, he would discover himself within the frontlines of Zambia’s COVID-19 response, an integral contributor to contact-tracing efforts. This expertise stood him in good stead for the cholera outbreak that hit the nation in October 2023, when his neighbourhood was amongst these worst affected.

As a member of one in all Lusaka’s a number of lively case-finding groups, he visits households the place cholera circumstances have been reported, spraying a chlorine resolution to disinfect latrines and key communal areas.

“Once I lastly get dwelling after a protracted day, I am actually drained, however I am comfortable,” Nkhoma says. “The factor that makes me really feel so good is that I’m contributing to the group. I can assist somebody get effectively, assist somebody have info, in order that the group is secure.”