Cholera threatens 1.4m in Zim
2008-11-18 21:05
Harare - Up to 1.4 million people are at risk of cholera if it continues to spread unchecked across Zimbabwe, Doctors Without Borders said on Tuesday, as official media reported 73 people have died of the disease.
The state-run Herald newspaper said that cholera had killed 37 people in Harare, while another 36 died and 431 were hospitalised in Beitbridge, on the border with South Africa.
"Most of the admissions were on Sunday afternoon, after people had learnt of the outbreak. We expect that number to increase," Beitbridge medical officer Taikaitei Kanongara told the paper.
The disease has spread rapidly around the country over the last month due to the break down in sanitation in many urban centres.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it has set up cholera treatment centres in Harare, where 500 patients have been treated so far and an average of 38 new patients are admitted every day.
Most patients come from the Harare suburbs of Budiriro and Glen View, MSF said in a statement, but warned that a total of 1.4 million people in the capital are at risk if the disease keeps spreading.
"Things are getting out of hand" at the Budiriro clinic, said MSF water and sanitation officer Precious Matarutse.
"There are so many patients that the nurses are overwhelmed. In the observation area, one girl died sitting on a bench. The staff is utilising each and every available room and still in the observation area patients are lying on the floor," she added.
Another MSF worker Vittorio Varisco warned that clinics were running out of space for the patients.
"It is a constant challenge to keep up with increasing patient numbers," Varisco said.
"Today patients at the Infectious Diseases Hospital are lying outside on the grass and we are setting up tents with additional beds as an overflow for the wards."
Cholera is endemic in parts of rural Zimbabwe, but had been rare in the cities, where most homes have piped water and flush toilets.
But after years of economic crisis, the nation's infrastructure is breaking down, leaving many people without access to clean water or proper sanitation.
- AFP