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Zimbabwe govt. sued over cholera outbreak

A group of Zimbabwean citizens are taking a government department to court for failing to provide them with adequate and safe drinking water as the country's cholera-related death toll nears 400. "Due to their lack of diligence and constant supplies of clean water to my place of residence, diseases like cholera surfaced and people are dying," said Arthur Taderera, the chairman of the Chitungwiza Residents and Rate Payers Association, in his affidavits to the court.

Mugabe tries to hide cholera death toll

Doctors struggling to save the victims of a cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe despite a lack of basic drugs and intravenous drips vented their fury last week outside the Parirenyatwa hospital in Harare, the capital. They were joined by nurses in a demonstration to highlight the collapse of a once well-funded health service that is no longer up to the task of treating cholera effectively.

Zimbabwe's health system in chaos

As political parties in Zimbabwe argue between themselves about the form the new government should take, Zimbabwe's health system is on the verge of total collapse.An outbreak of cholera is affecting nine out of Zimbabwe's ten provinces and major hospitals are failing to provide medical care to those in need.

Guinea-Bissau: Cholera contained but source still unknown

After more than six months of battling cholera in Guinea-Bissau the epidemic is now under control health officials say, though they admit they have not identified its root causes or put in place measures to prevent future outbreaks.

WHO and health partners lead massive cholera response in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo

WHO and health partners have launched an intensive operation to prevent and control the increase in the number of cholera cases, which have tripled in some areas to 150 a week, amid the recent escalation of violence in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Insecurity, massive population displacement (at least 250 000 people since early August), weak health services and a lack of safe water and proper sanitation facilities have caused a marked increase in the number of...

Derrick Jimu, "I put the blame for his death squarely on the city officials and the government"

Derrick Jimu, 56, has still not come to terms with the death of his son from cholera in the low-income suburb of Budiriro, in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare. So far more than 20 lives have been lost in this area, and the epidemic has now spread beyond the city. "Samson had just graduated with a degree in community medicine from the University of Zimbabwe. I remember the days when he would come back from university and we would discuss a host of disease outbreaks that we faced in this country. He...

ZIMBABWE: Disaster unit deployed in response to cholera outbreak

Zimbabwe has activated its national disaster response agency, the Civil Protection Unit (CPU), to counter the spread of cholera. President Robert Mugabe's government has stopped short of declaring a national disaster, although the CPU is usually deployed in the wake of national disasters, such as floods and droughts. The government said that in the past seven days nine people had died nationally from cholera, an easily treatable waterborne disease, but unofficially the numbers are thought to...

Up to 100,000 people displaced in the last week in North Kivu, DRC

UNICEF urgently responding to prevent cholera, malnutrition, and child exploitation Up to 100,000 people, around 60 per cent of which are children, have fled their homes due to heavy fighting between armed groups in North Kivu last week. Around 250,000 people are believed to have been displaced in the last two months, bringing the total number of internally displaced to around one million or 20 per cent of the entire North Kivu population. The condition of newly displaced children and women...

WEST AFRICA: End of rainy season won’t bring an end to cholera

West Africa’s rainy season is coming to a close, but the yearly cholera outbreak continues to claim lives throughout the region. In the hardest-hit country, Guinea-Bissau, the World Health Organization (WHO) says the situation is still “out of control” with 834 new cases and 15 deaths in the third week of October. This represents a 40-percent drop in new cases in the last few weeks, but the fatality rate remains high. “I believe we can expect [cholera] to have declined throughout the region...

ZIMBABWE: Cholera stalks our streets

Rodgers Matsikidze, a human rights lawyer and resident of Budiriro, a high-density suburb in the capital Harare, told IRIN that persistent sewer pipe bursts had exposed the community to disease, especially cholera. "Our dilemma is that we have not had running water for close to a month. In addition we had sewer pipes bursting, resulting in untreated effluent flooding most parts of the community. As you can obviously tell, there is an unpleasant smell in the air. "As to be expected, many...