APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) Zimbabwe health authorities are on high alert as a cholera outbreak spreads like veldfire across the southern African country where running taps are a rarity in some urban areas – and, when available, the water looks like it has been drawn straight from the river.
Briefing journalists in Harare late Tuesday on the outcome of the weekly cabinet meeting, Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said at least six people have died since the latest cholera outbreak began in February.
“Cabinet is informing the nation that Zimbabwe has recorded a cumulative 868 cholera cases, with 777 recoveries and six deaths,” Mutsvangwa said.
She announced that cabinet had agreed to dispatch a ministerial delegation to assess the situation in Harare’s Mbare suburb, one of cholera hotspots in the capital.
The delegation comprises ministers of local government and health.
She said water and sanitation officials have also been dispatched to hotspots across the country to distribute “non-food items including aqua tabs, buckets and soap as part of first-line defence in cholera prevention.”
“The sector is also involved in hygiene promotion in affected areas, with 500 community health volunteers having been trained on cholera prevention and management.”
Cholera is endemic in Zimbabwe where most local authorities have over the years struggled to provide clean drinking water.
The worst-ever outbreak occurred between 2008 and 2009 when over 100,000 cases were recorded, with more than 4,000 fatalities.
Health experts have attributed the outbreak to poor sanitation, contaminated water supplies and cross-border mobility.
Some parts of Harare have never had running water for several years and rely on unprotected wells or have to make use of companies that deliver the commodity at a price.
Where tapped water is available, it often is smelly and leaves greenish deposits at the bottom of the container, a development local authorities blame on lack of treatment chemicals.
JN/APA