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Urgent
action needed to address water shortages and breakdown in sanitation
Zimbabwe
Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR)
September 19, 2008
A serious health
crisis currently looms over Zimbabwe's urban areas due to a severe
shortage of running water in most areas. The Zimbabwe National Water
Authority's (ZINWA) failure to treat and pump adequate supplies
of water has left most urban homes dry and forced residents to rely
on unsafe supplies of water. This coupled with a breakdown in the
sanitation system (burst sewage pipes and lack of refuse collection
and proper disposal) is threatening the health of millions on Zimbabweans.
The new Government
must address this crisis as a matter of urgency. It is a matter
which cannot wait for resolution of differences or 'sticking points'.
Public service provision has been inadequate for several years and
requires urgent and comprehensive remedial action.
Access to safe
drinking water and to adequate sanitation are human rights and not
privileges of the Zimbabwean population. They are determinants of
health which if not made available can result in outbreaks of diarrhoea,
cholera and dysentery that are life threatening. Lives have already
been lost to cholera in Chitungwiza and health centres in Harare
and Bulawayo are burdened by numerous cases of diarrhoea on a daily
basis. It is highly likely that the number of deaths in Chitungwiza,
currently reported at 12 individuals, is much higher, and that this
is but the tip of an iceberg of much more morbidity. This has not
been communicated to the public.
Outbreaks of
cholera at any time are symptomatic of serious structural problems
within the system of public works. They are more common when rains
have resulted in flooding or overload of drainage systems. An outbreak
in the middle of the dry season is particularly disturbing.
The public has a right to be fully informed and updated on:
- what measures
are being taken to address the water and sanitation crisis and
- what measures
are in place to prevent and manage outbreaks of disease.
It is not adequate
for the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare to respond to disease
outbreak only after it has occurred. It is paramount that it works
in conjunction with other ministries concerned, such as that responsible
for water resources, and ZINWA, to ensure that disease is prevented
and that Zimbabwean's right to the highest attainable state of physical
and mental wellbeing is respected.
ZADHR calls
for an urgent, coordinated and comprehensive response from the new
Government to this crisis in water and sanitation.
Visit the ZADHR
fact
sheet
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