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Group
warns of disease outbreak in Harare
ZimOnline
October 14, 2006
http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=283
HARARE – A local
group which works with communities to promote basic health care
on Friday warned that Harare was facing a serious outbreak of water
borne diseases due to a water crisis bedeviling the city.
The executive
director of the Community
Working Group on Health, Itai Rusike, warned that the city faced
a serious outbreak of cholera, dysentery and scabies if the current
water crisis was not resolved immediately.
"When people
drink dirty water from sewage-drenched streams, when toilets don’t
flush and when people don’t bath regularly, it’s a recipe for disease
outbreak," said Rusike.
The CWGH is
a coalition of 35 non-governmental organisations that deal with
health matters in Zimbabwe. The group works with communities in
the promotion of basic health care around the country.
Residents in
the poor eastern suburbs of Mabvuku and Tafara, for example, say
they have gone for months on end without running water resulting
in most of them fetching water from unprotected wells.
Earlier this
year, five people died of cholera in Budiriro suburb in Harare.
Cholera is a water-borne disease that thrives in unhygienic conditions.
Health and Child
Welfare Minister David Parirenyatwa, could not be reached for comment
on the matter last night.
Parirenyatwa’s
deputy, Edwin Muguti conceded that Harare was facing a health time
bomb but added that water provision was the sole responsibility
of the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) and the Harare
city council.
"We can
only urge them (ZINWA and council) to solve the problem as soon
as possible because it is a health hazard. We had cholera earlier
this year and we don't want a repeat of that," said Muguti.
A serious water
shortage in Harare because the government does not have foreign
currency to buy water treatment chemicals is only one in a plethora
of crises facing the Zimbabwean government.
Harare, which
was a beacon of hope at independence 26 years ago, has virtually
crumbled due to years of mismanagement and corruption. – ZimOnline
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