Some 73,385 Zimbabweans have been infected with water-borne diarrhoeal
disease since August and 3,524 have died, in Africa’s deadliest cholera
outbreak in 15 years.
WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said that the countries sharing borders with
Zimbabwe have all reported cholera infections that could be related to the
country’s ongoing epidemic.
"There is believed to be a link between the Zimbabwe outbreak and South
Africa, and possibly with Mozambique, Botswana and Zambia," she told a news
briefing in Geneva, where the United Nations agency is based. "Movements of
population are likely the source of infection and spread."
The wet season stands to propel cholera-contaminated water in Zimbawbe’s
rivers and wells, and floods may keep aid workers from distributing needed
water purification tablets, rehydration salts, and soap in rural areas,
according to the WHO spokswoman.
"Cholera is not yet under control, far from it," she said.
In normal conditions, cholera is preventable and treatable.
The outbreak in Zimbabwe is tied to an economic crisis that has left 8 in 10
people out of work and caused the health system to collapse, with unpaid
doctors and nurses among those reliant on food aid and struggling with an
inflation rate estimated at more than 231 million percent.
To tackle Zimbabwe’s cholera crisis and other looming health risks, Chaib
said Harare’s new unity government must work to fix critical shortages of
health workers, and improve disease monitoring and immunisation coverage
rates across the country.
"The challenges ahead are enormous," she said.
Outside Zimbawbe’s borders, the largest current cholera in the region is in
South Africa, which has reported 4,859 cases and 34 deaths from mid-November
to end-January, Chaib said.
Mozambique has reported 3,592 cases and 25 deaths, Zambia has reported 3,035
cases and 43 deaths, and Angola, to Zambia’s west, has had 273 cases and 1
death.
Because cholera is endemic in those countries, which have never fully
stopped the disease, Chaib said: "It is hard to say if all cases are linked
to the Zimbabwe outbreak."
"Botswana is not endemic for cholera and it has only had a small number of
cases, 8 cases that were clearly linked to Zimbabwe," she said.
The WHO is not recommending travel restrictions in the area. Because
Zimbabwe’s neighbours have stronger and more functional health systems, they
are expected to be able to prevent and treat cholera much more effectively.
The last time South Africa had a large outbreak of cholera was in 2001 and
2002, when the country’s southeastern region had 166,000 cases. The fatality
rate of that outbreak was below 1 percent, compared to the 4.8 percent now
estimated in Zimbabwe.
Post published in: Analysis