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Zimbabwe seeks help for growing cholera epidemic - World news
Posted by:Tom 34 days ago • Discuss
HARARE AFP Zimbabwe's government pleaded for international help Thursday after declaring a cholera epidemic that has killed more than 560 people a national emergency and admitting that hospitals are no longer working.
The government and doctors said hospitals needed medicines and equipment to keep establishments going and even money to pay salaries and water treatment chemicals as the country's economic crisis bites ever harder.
According to the government and World Health Organisation, more than 560 people have died in the cholera epidemic and more than 12,500 cases recorded.
The state-run Herald newspaper said that the government had declared the cholera outbreak "and the malfunctioning of central hospitals as national emergencies" on Wednesday and had appealed to donor countries for aid.
"The emergency appeal will help us reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with the current socio-economic environment," Health Minister David Parirenyatwa told a meeting of aid groups, the newspaper reported.
"Our central hospitals are literally not functioning. Our staff is demotivated and we need your support to ensure that they start coming to work and our health system is revived."
He put the death toll so far at 563. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Wednesday there were 565 deaths and 12,546 recorded cases.
The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights ZADHR said the state of emergency was overdue.
"They should have done that two or three weeks ago when the figures of cholera related deaths were still low. However, it's better late than never at least they now realise that this is a serious matter," ZADHR chairman Douglass Gwatidzo told AFP.
Hospitals were in urgent need of drugs, food and equipment. Laboratory, surgical and laundry equipment, X-ray films and boilers were all needed, Parirenyatwa said.
In addition, he said the health ministry needs 1.5 million dollars a month as incentives for government health workers who have gone on strike over pay.Cholera is the latest challenge to hit poverty-wracked Zimbabwe as it struggles with a political crisis and hyperinflation estimated at 231 million percent in July.
Rogue soldiers went on the rampage between Thursday last week and Monday this week, beating up illegal foreign currency dealers and looting shops in Harare, and in Mbare and Chitungwiza, the Herald reported.
Banks started issuing a new 100 million Zimbabwe dollar note on Thursday and increased withdrawal limits. There were long winding queues in Harare as Zimbabweans can now only withdraw money once a week.
A 48 hour water cut in Harare has been alleviated, but deputy minister of water and infrastructural development, Walter Mzembi said there were only enough water treatment chemicals to last 12 weeks.
He appealed for about four million dollars to purchase two months' worth of chemicals. The Herald quoted him as saying the money was needed by Monday.
Taps in Harare ran dry on Saturday, forcing people to dig shallow wells or buy from the street hawkers.
Charities have warned that cholera has spread to neighbouring South Africa, where health authorities say the Limpopo River, a major waterway and border with Zimbabwe, tested positive for cholera this week.
Authorities initially shrugged off calls to declare a national disaster, blaming the crisis on Western sanctions against President Robert Mugabe and his inner circle.
The cholera epidemic has added to pressure on Mugabe and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change MDC to forge a unity government after signing an agreement in September.
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