Cholera death toll nears 400, minister warns outbreak could worsen

Cholera death toll nears 400, minister warns outbreak could worsen

EMERGENCY RESPONSE: A cholera victim lies prostate on a wheelbarrow as she is taken to a health centre in Harare

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• Report reveals srorry state of Zimbabwe's health service

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Posted to the web: 28/11/2008 13:24:31
ZIMBABWE appealed for aid on Thursday to fight an epidemic of cholera, warning that the outbreak could worsen with the onset of the rainy season as the official death reached nearly 400.

The fast-spreading cholera is "the tip of the iceberg" of what stands to be a major health crisis in Zimbabwe, United Nations agencies said on Friday.

Only a day after the government insisted it had the outbreak under control, deputy health minister Edwin Muguti said it would welcome outside help but again blamed veteran President Robert Mugabe's Western critics for the crisis.

Speaking on state television, Muguti said 386 people had died of the disease while 9,363 cases had been reported. The government had previously said 281 people had been killed although the UN put the toll at 366 earlier this week.

"With the coming of the rainy season, the situation could get worse," said Muguti. "Our problems are quite simple. We need to be assisted."

Zimbabwe's rainy season began earlier this month and should continue until February.

The minister again blamed sanctions imposed by the United States and European Union, which include a travel ban on Mugabe's inner circle and a freezing of their assets, for the mounting death toll.

"Maybe the ones who created this situation have decided to kill us softly," he said.

A lack of clean drinking water and adequate toilets are the main triggers of Zimbabwe's epidemic of the preventable and treatable diarrhoeal disease that can be fatal, especially in children, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said there are very few places where people infected with cholera in Zimbabwe can seek medical care, and the clinics that are open have far too few health workers to contain the outbreak.

"Cholera is only the tip of the iceberg in Zimbabwe. The health system is very weak in this country," she told a news briefing in Geneva.

International aid groups are building latrines, distributing medicines and hygiene kits, delivering truckloads of water, and repairing blocked sewers across Zimbabwe to mitigate the cholera emergency.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has begun delivering food for Zimbabwean doctors, nurses and other health workers who have not been paid because of their country's economic collapse.

"Some of the staff working in the clinics have not received a salary for weeks, and they cannot keep working if we do not get them food," ICRC spokeswoman Anna Schaaf said.

The agency said on Thursday it was doubling the budget of its Zimbabwe office to nearly 13 million Swiss francs (US$11 million) in 2009.
"The situation in hospitals is catastrophic," ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger told Reuters.

Zimbabwe's inflation is more than 230 million percent. Its economic crisis has caused many public hospitals to close, and most towns suffer from only intermittent water supplies, broken sewers, and uncollected garbage.

Cholera spreads through contaminated water used in drinking and food preparation, and poor hygiene. It causes vomiting and diarrhoea and can lead to death from dehydration if untreated.

The U.N. children's agency UNICEF said that to stop the current outbreak, Zimbawbwe's water pipes, sewers, and latrines need to be fixed, new boreholes need to be drilled, and water treatment chemicals need to be distributed across the country.

"Without international support, the lives of children in Zimbabwe will remain in grave danger," it said in a statement.

The disease has spread to neighbouring South Africa, where six people, including two nationals, have died after returning from Zimbabwe over the last week.

South African Health Minister Barbara Hogan slapped down Muguti's comments on Wednesday that "the situation is under under control", instead calling it a humanitarian crisis and promised not to turn away anyone who crossed the border for treatment.

According to a report Thursday in Zimbabwe's state media, the Chinese government has pledged to donate vaccines worth US$500,000 to help Zimbabwe contain the cholera epidemic.

"We are sympathising with the Zimbabwean people and we want to help as best as we can to stop the spread of the cholera disease that has killed many people in this country," said He Meng, deputy head of China's mission to Zimbabwe.

The cholera epidemic has added to pressure on President Mugabe and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to implement a September 15 agreement to share power after disputed elections earlier in the year. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said that Zimbabwe is now facing the worst crisis in its history.
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