The local community and the regional leadership in Kavango East are looking for ways to put an end to the suspected food poisoning cases in the region.

Former Deputy Prime Minister John Mutorwa called for an urgent meeting at Ndiyona this weekend.

This comes after 28 people died from suspected food poisoning between 2021 and 2025 in Ndiyona alone.

Various regional leaders, including the Kavango East governor, police regional commander, traditional authority leaders, constituency councillors and the general public, gathered to exchange ideas on how to deal with the suspected food poisoning incidents once and for all.

A representative from the Ministry of Health and Social Services gave an in-depth presentation on what suspected food poisoning is.

Dr. Mathias Luemba also spoke about some of the various challenges hampering proper healthcare in the Ndiyona area, which ultimately leads to death for many of the suspected food poisoning victims.

He pointed out the poor communication and road networks, transport shortages, the lack of a health centre and a high care unit as some of the issues hampering proper healthcare. The lack of a service station in the area is also another factor.

"As it is, if we have emergencies inland and we check our fuel level on the ambulance, the fuel level is so low that they first have to travel to Rundu or Divundu to fuel the vehicle before we can respond. But if there is a gas station in our district, it is just a matter of two to three minutes. We go in, we fuel our ambulance and respond to emergencies."

A number of people who attended the meeting also raised their concerns about how a toxicology report is never presented after a suspected food poisoning death.

The locals say family members deserve the right to know the outcome of these reports.

The former Deputy Prime Minister, John Mutorwa, told the meeting that he contacted the Minister of Home Affairs, Safety and Security in March last year.

The idea was to find out how far along the toxicology report is for the 16 family members who died from suspected food poisoning at Kayova more than two years ago.

"I got a response, end of April, which came from the police forensic laboratory. They said on the food poisoning case from the Kavango East region, the results are not yet ready, as NamPol's forensic science institute only received and installed new instrumentation in that regard about a month ago. The scientists first have to undergo training on the new instrumentation, and they are currently busy with the validation."

A local academic who attended the meeting says the suspected food poisoning cases in the area are a crisis that needs to be studied in depth.

"An issue of this magnitude, of this occurrence, happening at frequent occurrences. It needs a thorough study, an investigation, an academic investigation which will investigate every little detail. This is not normal, and many people are seeking answers, and yet they cannot get the answers."

A number of locals who attended the meeting told NBC News that it was long overdue.