Health ministers from the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), have rejected a proposal to declare cholera a public health emergency in the region.

Sylvia Masebo, the Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC) board chairperson, on Wednesday said individual countries should independently decide whether to declare the cholera outbreak as a health emergency or not.

Speaking during the CDC extraordinary session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Ms Masebo, who is also Zambia’s health minister, urged member states to develop proactive interventions to curb the spread of the current outbreak.

She said the outbreak had affected about 15 Sadc member states.

Zambia is among countries battling the worst outbreak in decades, with nearly 600 deaths and more than 16,000 cases reported since last October.

The country has experienced cholera outbreaks at least 30 times since 1977, with the charity WaterAid saying the latest one is the worst since 2017.

Zimbabwe and Malawi have also been affected by the current cholera outbreak.

Sadc leaders are set to hold a virtual summit on Friday to assess the state of preparedness and responses to the cholera outbreaks in the region.