Zimbabwe death toll hits 4,000 as Red Cross funds run short

So far, almost 90,000 people have contracted the disease – far beyond
the UN’s initial worst case scenario prediction of 60,000 – but despite
the desperate situation, the Red Cross appeal remains critically
under-funded.

The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) is now urgently appealing for money to help save lives. 

"What is happening in Zimbabwe is an absolute tragedy and this grim
milestone is just one more reminder of that," said the IFRC’s Matthew
Cochrane.  

"The British public, as always, have shown themselves to be extremely
generous but more is needed – overall the Red Cross has received less
than half of the funding necessary to continue its work.

"We’re now forced to prepare to scale back our operation when we should
be increasing what we are doing. If that happens, many more people will
die who could have been saved. 

"Most deaths are currently occurring in communities where people simply
cannot get to help before it is too late. It is exactly these
vulnerable people the Red Cross is working to reach out to."

The magnitude of the cholera outbreak has prompted an unprecedented
mass deployment of international Red Cross resources, including a
British Red Cross team of water and sanitation experts, as well as
teams from Japan, Norway, Austria, Germany, France and Finland.

The IFRC launched an appeal for £6.2m in December last year, but remains more than $3m short of that target.

"We have been able to send an emergency response team into Zimbabwe,
thanks to money from the public and a significant donation from
GlaxoSmithKline to the British Red Cross Appeal," said Pete Garrett,
Relief Operations Manager, British Red Cross.

"But it is not just big donations that matter; when you consider that
it costs just £1 a day – less than a cup of coffee – to protect a
family of five from cholera, it shows that any donation, large or
small, can make a huge difference."