SA, Zim meet over cholera

2008-11-24 10:31

Johannesburg - South African and Zimbabwean health officials met at the weekend to tackle a cholera outbreak which has claimed at least three lives across the South African border, an official said on Monday.

"We had a meeting yesterday (Sunday) with health officials from Zimbabwe. It was a very fruitful meeting. We did an assessment of Zimbabwe's health needs to enable us to tackle the problem," a spokesperson for the Musina Municipality health department, Phuti Seloba, told AFP.

"As at yesterday, our hospital in Musina has received (treated) a total of 168 cholera patients since the outbreak of the disease on November 15, three of whom have died," he said.

Twenty-seven cholera patients are currently in the hospital, he said.

Musina is a South African town near the border with Zimbabwe.

'This is our common problem'

"During the meeting, held in the Zimbabwean border town of Beitbridge, we all realised that the problem is neither Zimbabwean nor South African. This is our common problem and we need to solve it jointly. We need to look at the health gaps and find a way to fill them by tackling the source of the problem."

He declined to reveal the form of assistance that South Africa may render Zimbabwe over the water-borne disease.

"We realise that Zimbabwe lacks health equipments and drugs," he said.

More than 1 000 cholera patients are in Beitbridge hospital, he said.

Nearly 300 people have died of cholera in Zimbabwe, the United Nations said Friday.

South African health officials said that they are making efforts to check further spread of disease into its territory.

Last week, a South African truck driver was found with cholera in the southern coastal city of Durban, after he returned from Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe's economic collapse has fuelled the outbreak as basic water and sanitation services break down across the country.

Up to 1.4 million people in Zimbabwe are at risk of contracting the disease, Doctors Without Borders said last week.

- AFP