At least 3,500 dead as cholera crisis in Zimbabwe worsens, says UN health agency
Pastor Dale Morgan
At least 3,500 dead as cholera crisis in Zimbabwe worsens, says UN
health agency
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– The death toll from Zimbabwe’s worst ever cholera epidemic has climbed
to over 3,500, with more than 60,000 infected by the water-borne
disease, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) reported today.
Some 3,428 people have now died from cholera since the outbreak first
hit the besieged southern African country about six months ago, with 57
deaths yesterday alone and 102 the day before.
WHO also recorded 1,579 new cases of the disease yesterday, brining the
total number of people infected in Zimbabwe to 59,702.
Meanwhile, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) announced that around
500,000 Zimbabweans are set to benefit from its so-called “Safety Net”
activities that support school-based feeding, people affected by
HIV/AIDS and mobile and vulnerable populations.
The school-based programme, comprising 30 per cent of the agency’s
safety net programme, is dependent on the start of the school term,
which may be delayed.
WFP's cholera response has begun in Manicaland and Masvingo provinces,
which has reached 12,600 patients and staff to date. In addition, WFP
has established three new partnerships for cholera food support that
will support people in seven districts.
The cholera epidemic is just the latest crisis to strike 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.
Cholera is a diarrhoeal disease caused by infection of the intestine. In
five to 10 per cent of cases patients develop severe watery diarrhoea
and vomiting from six hours to five days after exposure to the bacterium.
The loss of large amounts of fluids can rapidly lead to severe
dehydration and without proper treatment, death can occur within hours.
Those who are malnourished or already have intestinal parasites can be
at especially high risk of death.