Zimbabwe — The death toll from the worst cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe's history continues to rise and now stands at 1 608, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
The number of cases of the acute intestinal infection caused by contaminated food or water has risen to 30 365 as of 29 December.
UN agencies are continuing their efforts to help the country to tackle the epidemic, which affects all provinces of the southern African country and comes amid a collapsing health system and worsening humanitarian situation.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has in recent days set up a response team comprised of an environmental health officer, epidemiologists and data managers.
The agency has also presented the terms of reference for the Cholera Command and Control Centre it set up to the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare.
The terms of reference propose that the support team be co-chaired by the Ministry and WHO. Its main tasks are surveillance, case management, water and sanitation, infection control, social mobilization and logistics.
Meanwhile, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) airlifted more cholera response supplies, including intravenous fluids, oral rehydration salts, gloves and nasogastric tubes. Supplies trucked from South Africa included drugs and midwifery and obstetric kits.
The cholera epidemic is just the latest crisis to hit Zimbabwe, which has been faced with a worsening humanitarian situation owing to years of failed harvests, bad governance and hyperinflation, as well as months of political tensions after disputed presidential elections in March involving the incumbent Robert Mugabe and the opposition figure Morgan Tsvangirai.
Although a power-sharing deal on the formation of a new government was reached in September with the help of regional leaders, outstanding issues remain, jeopardising the deal's implementation.
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Happy New Year and enjoy the Cholera epidemic. Mugabe and ZANU will steal all the medical supplies coming into the country. People will keep dying and nothing will be done......Welcome to Zimbabwe....
Dictators allowed to exist long enough poison everyone and get everyone to join their evil course. AllAfrica for instance now has 80% of Zimbabwean content from the Herald, Mugabe's propaganda paper. Reason being it is the onlydaily paper in ZW, the rest having been forced to close down by the dictator. Mission accomplished. The only news is the dictator's news, and Allafrica amplifies it. News24 reports on a letter by frustrated reader who has lost respect for Zimbabweans for not removing Mugabe. The reader should be aware that for more than 30 days, 31 activists abducted by Mugabe regime, could not be accounted for. Police denied knowledge of their whereabouts and accused the MDC of abductions. After 30 days they showed up in police cells, accused of trying to topple Mugabe. They face treason charges and will be executed if convicted. Orders for their release by the high court were ignored and they still languish in filthy prisons. I notice SABC international has also now joined Mugabe's thinking. By continuously repeating his warped statement about sanctions from America and Britain, and quoting him entirely out of context, they are using the power of repetition to brainwash everyone into believing that travel restrictions on Mugabe and his cronies is in fact the cause of suffering in Zimbabwe. Mugabe told everyone that a mere X will not remove him, and he went on to prove it over the last 10 months. Even the UN had a slot for him to curse imaginary enemies in Britain and America. South Africa said they will not give Mugabe 300Million Rand until there is proper government in ZImbabwe. In fear of the unknown, they released the cash in a hury, after the planting season, so that Mugabe has the whole year to loot it. Zuma has been critical of Mugabe and Zanu PF's recklessness and mismanagement. Lately, he has chosen to cheer Mugabe on. Cosatu has been vocal in the past, but is now silent as a grave. The Zimbabwean populaiton is well encircled by dictatorship - the only wise thing to do is to be quiet, knowing that the dictator will deal immediate and lethal blows to whoever says anything. RSA lost lives to Cholera, so did Malawi and Botswana. Mozambique is quiet, probably do now know how many they lost. These are directly attributed to failures in Harare traced back to senile Mugabe, whom the region continues to worship despite all this. Enough - would all in positions of influence please say the correct things and use positions responsibly?