The real cholera death toll is being hidden by a lack of awareness and under-reporting of under-five deaths from the disease, fears Save the Children.
The number of people killed by cholera in Zimbabwe topped 2000 on Tuesday, according to the UN. However the children's aid organisation suspects that many babies and young children - those most vulnerable to cholera - are dying without the disease being identified or recorded.
Rachel Pounds, Save the Children's country director in Zimbabwe, said:
"Save the Children believes that cholera may have become a silent killer of young children in Zimbabwe. The health system is now so bad here that under-fives frequently die from diarrhoea. Now we have a situation where babies are falling sick with watery diarrhoea, but parents don't realise it's cholera so don't get treatment. Young children are the quickest to recover if they get proper care, but they are also the quickest to die if they do not.
"This lack of awareness and reporting mean the cholera death toll could be significantly higher than official figures. More dangerously, it also could be helping to spread the disease. Funerals can be a breeding ground for cholera if bodies aren't buried safely. If parents don't know why their young babies have died, it's likely they're not protecting themselves and their other children properly, which means they too could become a cholera victim."
Save the Children, which is running a major emergency appeal for children in Zimbabwe, has so far helped to treat over 60,000 cholera victims in Zimbabwe, including 37,000 children, and is working to raise awareness of the disease among thousands more. However more resources are needed in the face of the continuing crisis.
Ms Pounds said: "We urgently need more money so we can do even more prevention to stop the cholera from spreading. In the face of potential flooding, everything has to be done to educate families how to stay safe. There's a huge awareness-raising job still to do, particularly of the dangers facing young children, and we need to distribute more soap and water purification tablets before the infection rate can again increase."
To donate to Save the Children's Zimbabwe appeal, please go to www.savethechildren.org.uk or call +44 207 012 6400
ENDS
For information or interviews call Save the Children's media unit on +44 207 012 6841 / +44 7831 650 409 (24-hour line)
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 close to 700,000 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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