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FROM THE FIELD

Zimbabwe cholera epidemic 'worsening' says aid agency
11 Dec 2008 17:50:00 GMT
 Source: Save the Children UK
Save the Children

Website: Website: http://www.savethechildren.net

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A boy receives treatment at a cholera camp outside Harare.
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A boy receives treatment at a cholera camp outside Harare.
Colin Crowley/Save the Children

Background

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Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic is not under control, Save the Children said today.

Speaking from the agency's HQ in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare today, Save the Children's country director Rachel Pounds said: "If anything is certain in the chaos of Zimbabwe today it is that the cholera outbreak is not under control. According to the latest figures 775 people have died so far. Save the Children knows this is an underestimate - not least because the figures do not include areas in which we work and where we know there have been many unrecorded deaths.

"Also, the percentage of people who are dying having contracted cholera in the first place is way higher than normal for this disease, in some areas. With even the most basic health care on hand, you would expect to see a death rate of only one or two percent. In some areas of Zimbabwe a third of those who have contracted the infection are dying."

Ms Pounds added that said that the crisis was almost certainly worsening. "Reliable figures are hard to come by, but there is much evidence out there that this crisis is growing, not diminishing, especially as we know there are many people can't get to cholera centres. Given that this is a disease spread by unclean water and exacerbated by hunger which weakens victims, this problem has clearly not gone away. Water and health services have collapsed and more than half the 10 million population needs emergency food aid. This deadly disease will continue to spread unless we get more money and more resources to halt the contamination and treat victims promptly."

Save the Children urged the international community to listen to aid agencies working in Zimbabwe and to Zimbabweans themselves living with the horror of hunger and cholera. "It is ordinary families who are bearing the brunt of this crisis, and it is to them the world must listen," said Ms Pounds. "They should listen to the mothers whose babies have died, and to the children waiting outside health clinics to see if their mothers or fathers will come out alive. That's the reality here."

Save the Children's 200-strong team in Zimbabwe is helping to provide drugs to treat cholera and educating communities how to avoid infection, as well as providing food so that safe cholera treatment camps can be set up to prevent further contamination.

The aid organisation is feeding around 200,000 people and helping families prepare for the future by distributing seed, small livestock and helping to set up vegetable gardens. Save the Children has worked in Zimbabwe for nearly 25 years.

ENDS

For more information or interviews please contact the Save the Children media unit on +44 207 012 6836 / +44 7831 650 409 / media@savethechildren.org.uk

Notes to Editors

The humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe has now reached unprecedented proportions. A cholera epidemic is already crippling the country, which has killed over 775 people.

Up to 5.1 million people will be in need of food aid to survive by the end of the year, over half the country's population. One in 10 children in Zimbabwe die before the age of five, although with rocketing rates of malnutrition and disease, the child mortality rate will also rise.

Save the Children's 200-strong team in Zimbabwe is helping to provide drugs to treat cholera and educating communities how to avoid infection, as well as providing food so that safe cholera treatment camps can be set up to prevent further contamination.

The aid organisation is feeding around 200,000 people and helping families prepare for the future by distributing seed, small livestock and helping to set up vegetable gardens. Save the Children has worked in Zimbabwe for 25 years.

We're the world's independent children's charity. We're outraged that millions of children are still denied proper healthcare, food, education and protection. We're working flat out to get every child their rights and we're determined to make further, faster changes. How many? How fast? It's up to you. For further information about our work please visit www.savethechildren.org.uk




[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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A cholera patient rests on her bed inside a ward of Budiriro Polyclinic in Harare December 10, 2008. The death toll from Zimbabwe's cholera outbreak soared to nearly 800 on Wednesday ...


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Last updated:Thu Dec 11 17:58:14 2008