Zimbabwe’s worst-case cholera scenario, as predicted by the World Health Organization (WHO), is likely to be surpassed within a few weeks and there are still about two months of the rainy season left. By 28 January 2009, the cholera death toll in Zimbabwe had climbed to 3,028.

The US-based International medical rights organisation, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), have labeled Zimbabwe’s health crisis a ‘crime’ that should be the subject of an investigation by the International Criminal Court. In a report titled ‘Health in Ruins - a man made disaster in Zimbabwe’ [1] - PHR details the spread of the cholera epidemic and outlines the implications the collapse of the healthcare system has on victims of human rights violations.

The disease has also spread to neighbouring countries. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), nine countries in the Southern Africa region were reporting cholera cases: Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

[1] PHR (2009). Health in ruins : a man-made disaster in Zimbabwe. Cambridge, MA, USA, Physicians for Human Rights. Download here

Web sites:

• OCHA - Zimbabwe, includes regular updates and background information on the cholera epidemic
• WHO - Cholera

Source: IRIN, 26 Jan 2009; IRIN, 28 Jan 2009; SW Radio Africa / allAfrica.com, 13 Jan 2009

Tags: africa, water-related diseases