SW Radio Africa (London)
Alex Bell
21 October 2008
The United Nations has added yet another health warning to the growing list of risks facing already suffering Zimbabweans - this time predicting that the recent cholera outbreak will become endemic come the rainy season.
The collapse of the country's municipal and health services is just one of the critical consequences of the country's political and economic crises and the latest cholera outbreak, that was first reported in the Harare township Chitungwiza in August, has left at least fifteen people dead. The UN said this week that the death toll as a result of cholera outbreaks since February this year stands at an estimated 120 people.
But the latest recurrence of the water borne infection is proving
difficult to contain and has spread from the cities to rural areas. There are now fears that the onset of the rainy season could make the disease endemic, if the authorities fail to address the water and sanitation crisis plaguing the county.
Cholera is an intestinal infection causing acute diarrhoea and vomiting and,
if left untreated, can cause death from dehydration within 24 hours. It is
easily treatable but with a desperate lack of medical supplies, treatment is not always an option. At the same time, as the food shortage continues to take its toll on the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans, victims already weakened from hunger are falling prey to the disease faster than before.
Resident's associations have blamed the collapsed water and sanitation services on the government's decision to hand over the management of the systems to the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA). Simbarashe Moyo from the Combined Harare Resident's Association (CHRA), which has called on the city's water services to be handed back to the council, told Newsreel on Tuesday that the current political deadlock between Robert Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai is having a direct impact on the provision of services.
"The water woes that have seen many Harare residents losing their lives to
cholera outbreaks are a result of the ruthless decision to hand over the
administration of water and sewer services to ZINWA," Moyo said. "The powers that be need to stop burying their heads in the sand and attend to the stalemate as a matter of urgency so that lives can be spared."
Meanwhile an anthrax outbreak has also been reported in Hurungwe, a rural area in Mashonaland West Province, about 300km north of the capital, Harare, "where 10 cases have been reported, but no deaths as yet. WHO (World Health Organisation) is still investigating," the UN said in a recent situation report on cholera and anthrax.
Anthrax is caused by the bacterium, Bacillus anthracis, and mostly affects wild animals and domesticated cattle, although it can be transferred to humans through inhalation of the bacteria's spores from a live or infected dead animal, blood contact if the skin is broken, or by eating the undercooked meat of a diseased animal.
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