January 31, 2009

More Than 60.000 People Infected Cholera in Zimbabwe

More than 60,000 people have been infected with cholera in Zimbabwe, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Latest figures released Friday also show that the 3161 people have died from the disease since August 2008.

In December, WHO spokesman Paul Garwood say the organization is estimated that 60,000 people were infected with cholera in the worst case. "

However, that number stands at 60,401 and shows no signs of diminishing the agency said.

WHO in Geneva, Switzerland-based organization, said that "drastic measures" that is needed now to curb one of the world's largest outbreak of cholera.


The UN agency called for "political differences to be put aside" and the international intervention to address the crisis.

"This is an extraordinary public health crisis that requires us all a tremendous response from public health emergency, and this must happen before the outbreak now cause unnecessary suffering and death," WHO said Dr Eric Laroche on its Web site.

"Political differences must be put aside, overcome barriers to economic, health services at the periphery of the country and strengthen the awareness of the community to respond to increased saving many more people dying from a disease that is preventable and easily treated, "he added.

Since August, the cholera epidemic has spread through a country undermined by a political and economic crisis. It has also coincided with a nearly five-month strike by doctors and nurses are demanding wages in foreign currency.

Cholera is an intestinal disease caused by bacteria in contaminated water.

The epidemic has been aggravated by the irregularity of water supplies, a shortage of chemicals for water purification, broken water pipes and sewage and garbage without a waste disposal system that has collapsed.

Children may be playing in the piles of uncollected garbage in the suburbs of most urban areas in Zimbabwe.

In early December, President Robert Mugabe's government declared the cholera epidemic a national emergency, paving the way for the international aid group Oxfam, MSF, WHO, United Nations Fund for Children and USAID.

But that assistance has not improved the situation, and the disease has spread to new areas since then.

"The problem in Zimbabwe is that the infrastructure is outdated, especially when it comes to sanitation. People are going for months without running water in cities," said Peter Hinn, the director of a German group called Welt Hunger Hilfe ( Help World Hunger), which is helping to combat cholera in Zimbabwe.

"In rural areas, 60 to 70 percent of the wells (wells) are not working. So the international community could have come, but they have to deal with this infrastructure."

Zimbabwe is a tremendous suffering and the economic crisis, with a hyperinflationary economy and shortages of all essential items including food, fuel, cash, foreign currency and electricity.

The country of the rainy season peaks in January or February and ends in late March, and the Zimbabwean Minister of Health David Parirenyatwa said the epidemic could worsen during the time the rain runoff from extending to other bacteria rivers, streams and wells.

Mugabe said in mid-December that the epidemic of cholera has declined, but health experts differ with him and the latest figures seem to contradict his statement.

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