Dr Henry Madzorera, the MDC Senator for KweKwe, told Newsreel there are fears the waterborne disease will become endemic if the authorities fail to address the water and sanitation crisis plaguing the country. Cholera is an intestinal infection causing acute diarrhoea and vomiting and, if left untreated, can cause death from dehydration within 24 hours. He said the disease is however easily treatable with rehydration salts.
But Health Minister David Parirenyatwa told state radio Thursday the main government hospitals faced severe shortages of medicines and supplies.
Morgan Femai, the MDC Senator for Chikomo in Harare, said Thursday that the country has been sitting on a time bomb since raw sewage started finding its way into water sources such as streams and rivers, more than a year ago. The Senator said he has been to almost every town and province in the last three months and the situation was the same.
‘The government tells us there is no foreign currency to buy water treatment chemicals but the central bank can, at an hour’s notice, raise US$24 million for Robert Mugabe to fly to New York for one week,’ Femai said.
He added; ‘So where are their priorities. They should prioritize improving water and sanitation infrastructures as a long term goal and not waste the precious hard currency dashing out of the country on all those useless foreign trips’.
Areas in Harare such as in Mabvuku have had no water for the last two years, while in Ruwa and Dzivarasekwa, residents last had water supplies nine months ago.
According to the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights the disease has so far claimed over 120 lives and warned many more will perish if government fails to take immediate measures, such as water treatment at household level.
There are reports government is suppressing information on the disease, described by medical sources as ‘spreading like wildfire’. Reports suggest the problem is far more widespread than the authorities admit.
Across the country in recent weeks at least 27 people have died from cholera, mostly in impoverished districts, and hundreds have been treated for the highly infectious intestinal disease spread by contaminated food and water.
Treating the condition requires only simple measures, but the clean water and rehydration salts required are in short supply in areas where they are needed most. An outbreak of cholera spreads very quickly in areas where there is poor sanitation and where water supplies are tainted.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news