More than 50 cholera deaths have been reported in Zimbabwe in the past day, bringing the toll to 366 since August, the United Nations said Tuesday.
Over the last four days, the number of cholera deaths in the country increased from 294 to 313 and the number of cases has increased from 6,072 to 7,283, the U.N. Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs said on Monday. The numbers have been reported from August till now.
Health officials say the water-borne disease is spreading fast because of the poor sanitation or contaminated water, which Zimbabweans are using for drinking and to prepare food.
Vital Signs
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement on Tuesday saying he is “distressed over the “collapse of health, sanitation and education services, and the consequent rapidly escalating cholera outbreak.”
The nation’s capital, Harare, has not imported adequate supplies of chemicals to treat water, resulting in citizens resorting to shallow wells and rivers for water, according to health advocates.
The situation in Zimbabwe has been compounded by a collapsing health delivery system. Government hospitals have closed as doctors and nurses stopped reporting for duty, citing archaic equipment and poor compensation, the World Health Organization has said.
A group including former UN chief Kofi Annan and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter recently postponed a visit to Zimbabwe meant to highlight the country’s humanitarian crisis after Zimbabwe government refused to cooperate with the delegation.
Ban on Tuesday backed the “humanitarian initiative” and regretted the government’s failure to cooperate “with their timely, well-intended effort to assist the people of Zimbabwe.” He is hopeful that another mission will take place soon.
The humanitarian problems illustrate the political problem in Zimbabwe, where a power-sharing agreement signed in September between President Robert Mugabe of the ruling ZANU-PF party and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has yet to take effect.
The U.N. leader also urged Zimbabwean parties “to rapidly reach an agreement on the formation of a new government consistent with the letter and spirit of the 15 September agreement.”
“The people of Zimbabwe cannot afford another failure by their political leadership to reach a fair and workable agreement that would allow Zimbabwe to tackle the formidable challenges ahead,” Ban said.
zanu pf is a party of failures, these deaths should be included in the number of people that have been killed by the murderer mugabe. This man is no longer needed by the Zimbabweans because he has killed a number of his own people in Zimbabwe we cannot afford to have him anylonger. I hope these talks yield positive results, but for a permanent solution to be found we need equatable power sharing. The home affairs should belong to MDC alone, we cannot let thugs to be Ministers of Home Affairs it defeats the purpose of the Ministry. We shall be very effective in that Ministry and we promise to arrest all the perpetratorsof crime in Zimbwabwe. We promise not to beat your zanu leader just like you beat our leader at the back of your ZRP Van. Enough is enough the country has expirience so many deaths. Barring the elders from coming home didn’t prevent them from gathering information they wanted so Zanu were fooling themselves thinking the elders will give up their fact finding. We are praying for God’s presence at the talks and MDC should not give in to Zanu tricks. ONE LAST QUESTION WHY IS mugabe SO QUITE WHEN PEOPLE ARE DYING IN HUNDREDS?
THE Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) has procured 5 600 kilogrammes of a water-treatment chemical, chlorine, as part of efforts to assist Bulawayo City Council in the fight against cholera.
The Resident Minister of Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, Cde Cain Mathema, revealed in an interview yesterday that the water utility had pledged 5 600kg of chlorine towards the local authority’s water treatment processes.
He said of this quantity, about 3 500kg was handed over to the council yesterday. The remainder would be given to council soon, said Cde Mathema.
He emphasised that the chlorine should be used in the fight against cholera, which has so far claimed hundreds of lives in Zimbabwe.
“We would like to inform the Bulawayo community that ZINWA has given the city council 5 600kg of chlorine gas to fight cholera. We are striving to have our city more hygienic. The city must reclaim its position as one of the smartest cities in Africa,” said Cde Mathema.
He said the donation was to ensure that council has adequate stocks of water treatment chemicals.
This is not adequate. If there are 1000 000 people in Bulawayo then this would amount to 5,6 Grams of chlorine per person.This is enough for 1 day. No wonder Zimbabwe is in such a mess.