Zimbabwe’s cholera caseload is expected to top the 100,000 mark and more than 4,000 deaths [1] are counted. Aid agencies warn that although the disease is subsiding, it has not been eradicated and could flare up again.

“The [cholera] epidemic has entrenched itself as Africa’s worst outbreak in more than 15 years,” the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said in a report called The Spectre of Cholera Remains in Zimbabwe [2].

The severity of Zimbabwe’s epidemic is attributed to the collapse of the water, sanitation and health infrastructure. “Unless significant efforts are made to rehabilitate at least some components of the country’s degraded infrastructure, communities remain vulnerable to further and severe outbreaks” the IFRC noted in its report.

The IFRC expressed dismay at the “surprisingly slow donor response” to the cholera outbreak, and said that less than half its original budget of 10.17 million Swiss francs (US$9.45 million = € 6.7 million) to combat the disease had been covered, resulting in the “premature” scaling-down of cholera-related assistance.

[1] ReliefWeb, Zimbabwe: daily cholera updates and alerts, 09 Jun 2009

[2] IFRC (2009). 100,000 Cases : the spectre of cholera remains in Zimbabwe. Advocacy report. Geneva, Switzerland, IFRC Communications Department. Download here

Related news:

• Sanitation perspectives in the new Zimbabwe, Source Bulletin, May 2009 ;
• Zimbabwe: repair collapsed infrastructure to tackle cholera epidemic, Source Weekly, 28 Apr 2009

Related web site: IFRC - Zimbabwe food and health crisis

Contact: IFRC Zimbabwe

Source: IRIN, 26 May 2009

Tags: africa, water-related diseases