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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Health Crisis - Focus on Cholera and Anthrax - Index of articles
UN
says worst ever cholera outbreak continues, with toll topping 2,200
UN
News
January 15, 2009
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=29555&Cr=&Cr1
Zimbabwe's cholera
outbreak, which has claimed more than 2,200 lives, is still spreading
out of control, while humanitarian agencies are boosting their activity
in response, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) said today.
OCHA said that the agencies
are now supporting 172 cholera treatment centres throughout the
country, promoting awareness of the disease through information
campaigns and helping to set up operational frameworks for cholera
command centres and rapid response teams.
Meanwhile, the Office
added, Zimbabwe's food security situation is becoming increasingly
difficult as the lean season sets in.
The disease, which is
caused by contaminated food or water, has affected all ten of Zimbabwe's
provinces, and nearly 90 per cent of the country's 62 local
districts, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).
Half the estimated 40,000
cases diagnosed so far are in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare,
and the crisis is just one among many to hit the country, which
has been faced with years of failed harvests, bad governance and
hyperinflation, as well as months of political tension after disputed
presidential elections in March.
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