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Zim battles mounting cholera crisis
Mail & Guardian (SA)
November 21, 2008

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-11-21-zim-battles-mounting-cholera-crisis

Zimbabwe is struggling to contain "unprecedented" cholera outbreaks that have spread to nine of the country's 10 provinces, state media reported on Friday.

"The ministry is battling to control unprecedented cholera outbreaks affecting the country," Health and Child Welfare Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa told the Herald.

The majority of outbreaks had been traced to the capital, Harare, he said.

Nearly 300 people had died as of November 18, the United Nations chief humanitarian agency said on Friday.

"The cholera outbreak has taken a national dimension. Newer outbreaks are reported from all provinces. The total number of suspected cholera cases in the country stands at 6 072 cases and 294 deaths," the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement.

The latest outbreaks were reported from Beitbridge in the Matabele South province, with 700 cases and 20 deaths. Health facilities in the area are reporting an admission rate of 200 patients per day, OCHA said.

"The spatial distribution of outbreaks will most likely continue to expand as well as the number of people infected" given the worsening water and sanitation situation in densely populated areas, it warned.

The World Health Organisation said it has requested emergency health kits from its warehouse in Dubai to strengthen national and provincial stocks ahead of the rainy season.

The WHO added it has provided strategic stocks of emergency supplies to various locations in the country

Zimbabwe medical groups have slammed poor basic water and sanitation facilities and a weakened health system, paralysed by drug shortages, dilapidated infrastructure and a brain drain of health professionals.

The Zimbabwe Medical Association said the government should declare a national disaster.

The outbreak and deaths were "foreseeable and thus avoidable" and symptomatic of poor basic water and sanitation facilities, the association was quoted by the Herald as saying.

The newspaper also reported that a hospital in Mutoko, north-east of Harare where three people had died, was contemplating closing due to critical food shortages.

Parirenyatwa admitted "the situation in government hospitals is bad" but hoped food would soon be made available under the inflation-battered Reserve Bank programme to ensure Zimbabweans had basic commodities.

Zimbabwe's health system, once among the best in Africa, has collapsed under the weight of the world's highest inflation rate, last estimated at 231-million percent in July.

'Deeply concerned'

Meanwhile, former United Nations chief Kofi Annan will travel to Zimbabwe, a spokesperson said on Thursday, despite objections by President Robert Mugabe's government that branded the trip a "partisan mission".

Annan announced last week that he would travel to Zimbabwe this weekend with former US president Jimmy Carter and rights activist Graça Machel, wife of former South African president Nelson Mandela.

But Mugabe's government warned on Thursday that the trio, who belong to a group of statesmen known as the Elders, should postpone the mission, claiming that they were trying to support the opposition in power-sharing talks.

"The original plan is that the Elders will visit Zimbabwe on November 22 and 23. That plan has not changed. They will still go to Harare," said Katy Cronin, spokesperson for the Elders.

Annan said in a statement that they have no intention of interfering in talks on Zimbabwe's proposed unity government.

He said that the visit will enable them "to make a first-hand assessment of the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe".

"The Elders are deeply concerned about the impact of the deteriorating economic situation in Zimbabwe on the population," he said.

"The purpose of our visit is to meet those working on the ground to better assess the extent of the crisis and how assistance can be improved," Annan said.

"We have sought meetings with political leaders in Zimbabwe and would be pleased to hear their views."

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