Harare/Cologne. Given the deteriorating situation caused by the cholera epidemic in Zim-babwe, Malteser International is supporting an emergency relief programme: Together with the German-based relief organisation HELP, and with financial support from the Federal For-eign Office of Germany, the organisations are providing essential intravenous fluids, as well as needles and tubes for more than 5,000 patients. The organisation "action medeor" will deliver the medical equipment.
"Zimbabwe has declared a national emergency. We must help immediately!" Dr. Georg No-thelle, head of the Africa Desk at Malteser International, declares. According to official fig-ures more than 570 people have died already, and more than 14,000 infections have been re-corded. Because the disease spreads very quickly, there is a fear that there could be many more victims.
"Thousands of people have no access to clean water. Some of them therefore have to tap wa-ter off from broken sewage water," says Nothelle, "and since there is no electricity in the re-gion, people cannot boil the water. Even chlorine tablets or other ways to clean the water are lacking. Therefore people are drinking this dirty water and infecting themselves."
To support the cholera patients in Zimbabwe, Malteser International is urgently calling for donations:
Donation Account 2020122
Pax-Bank Köln, von-Werth-Str. 25-27, D-50670 Köln, Germany
Sort Code : 370 60 193, IBAN : DE93 3706 0193 0002 0201 22, BIC: GENODED1PAX
Reference : "Emergency Relief Africa"
Online: http://www.malteser-spenden.de/spenden.html
Attention editors: Dr. Georg Nothelle, Head of Africa Department of Malteser International, is available for interviews. Please call ++49 221 98 22-213.
Malteser International is the worldwide relief agency of the Sovereign Order of Malta for hu-manitarian aid. The organisation provides aid in about 200 projects in more than 20 countries without distinction of religion, race or political persuasion. Christian values and the humani-tarian principles of impartiality and independence are the foundation of its work. For further information: www.malteser-international.org and www.orderofmalta.org
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
A woman carries water on her head whilst carrying her child on her back in the Budiriro suburb in Harare December 10, 2008. The death toll from Zimbabwe's cholera outbreak soared ...
