Zimbabwe: UN says worst ever cholera outbreak continues, with toll topping 2,200

Zimbabwe’s cholera outbreak, which has claimed more than 2,200 lives, is still spreading out of control, while humanitarian agencies are boosting their activity in response, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today.

OCHA said that the agencies are now supporting 172 cholera treatment centres throughout the country, promoting awareness of the disease through information campaigns and helping to set up operational frameworks for cholera command centres and rapid response teams.

Meanwhile, the Office added, Zimbabwe’s food security situation is becoming increasingly difficult as the lean season sets in.

The disease, which is caused by contaminated food or water, has affected all ten of Zimbabwe’s provinces, and nearly 90 per cent of the country’s 62 local districts, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

Half the estimated 40,000 cases diagnosed so far are in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, and the crisis is just one among many to hit the country, which has been faced with years of failed harvests, bad governance and hyperinflation, as well as months of political tension after disputed presidential elections in March.