HARARE, Zimbabwe, Jan 13, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- The death toll from
Zimbabwe's cholera outbreak has surpassed 2,000, making it the worst ever in its
history, U.N. health agency officials said Tuesday.
The U.N. World Health Organization said more than 100 deaths and 1,500 new cases
were reported Tuesday alone. There have been close to 40,000 cases reported in
the African nation, WHO officials said in a news release issued at the United
Nations' headquarters in New York.
There is no end in sight, with the country's healthcare system a shambles and
sanitation services often non-existent, the WHO officials said. Cholera is
transmitted through contaminated food and water.
Boniface Nzara, a water, sanitation and hygiene specialist with UNICEF Zimbabwe,
said he found a grim situation when he visited a rural clinic in Chinrundu
recently.
"When we arrived at the clinic we were met by a frightening sight," he said.
"People with cholera were just lying outside the clinic with very little
assistance. The hygiene situation inside was literally a cholera breeding
ground."
He said UNICEF provided a "cholera kit," which includes two treatment tents big
enough for 50 patients, beds and pit latrine equipment. They also provided
intravenous fluids and oral rehydration salts, a water tank and
water-purification tablets.
The Zimbabwean government is led by President Robert Mugabe, who has spent the
past several months trying to fend off his political opponents.
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Copyright 2009 by United Press International