Zimbabwe Cholera update: charity reports fatalities amongst supported Families

SOS Children's Villages Zimbabwe reports that no children living in any of the three villages have shown any signs of infection by cholera. Sadly, four families benefitting from the Family Strengthening Programme in Harare have lost adult members to the disease.

No cholera infections amongst SOS children in Zimbabwe

SOS Children's Villages National Director in Zimbabwe, Gary Birditt, confirmed this afternoon that none of the children living in the three SOS Children's Villages Zimbabwe have suffered from cholera during the recent outbreak.

Although all three Villages, in the Waterfalls a suburb of Harare, Bindura and Bulawayo, are located in areas that have seen cases of cholera, no children living in the villages have yet shown any symptoms.

Gary Birditt added "in all three Villages, the Village nurse has conducted awareness sessions with SOS mothers and youths. All Villages have adequate supplies of requirements for making basic oral rehydration solution and mothers are aware of the correct proportions of sugar, salt and clean water. Bearing in mind the lack of medical infrastructure available at the moment in Zimbabwe, we have the resources available that should any of the children become ill with cholera we can treat all but the most extreme and acute cases within the village. We have ensured suitable supplies of the recommended antibiotics and rehydration drips. Should we need to call on further help, we have made provisions with local private hospitals for assistance and they have suitable supplies of the recommended antibiotics and rehydration drips "

SOS mothers and co-workers are treating all water as potentially contaminated and are vigorously boiling it before use, or are treating it with the recommended chemicals.

The SOS Schools and SOS Nurseries are now closed for the school holidays and are not due to open before the middle of January. Each school has already carried out awareness campaigns amongst teachers and pupils and teachers in the Nursery received particularly detailed information as younger children are even more susceptible to the acute dehydration caused by diarrheal which is the main symptom of the disease.

Four families benefitting from the Family Strengthening Programme in Harare suffer loss.

The SOS Social Centre catchment areas have more complex problems relating to the cholera outbreak. In a document released by the World Health Organisation on 2 December, they state that half of the total cases reported has been from Budiriro, a suburb of Harare, one of the deprived and densely populated areas that the SOS family strengthening programme is active in. Sadly, Isiah Sango, one of the social workers involved with the family strengthening programme says that four adults who were beneficiaries of the programme have already died from cholera.

Poor municipal water supply, un-treated sewage, lack of electricity, the collapse of medical infrastructure and over-crowding have all meant that the containment of cholera has been extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible.

Mr Justine Lungu, regional family strengthening programme advisor, visited Budiriro on 27 November and noted that co-workers had been assisting the Ministry of Health and other partners in distributing information on prevention and treatment of cholera. However he also noted that even if people knew the methods of prevention and treatment, they simply did not have the basic of clean water which is necessary.

As Gary Birditt makes clear, "SOS Children's Villages is not a player in the field of public health, nor an expert in water sanitation. Our mandate and mission is to partner with the State to support or to create families for children who, without our intervention, would be homeless. However, the health of the children who we are in contact with, their physical well being and development is a big issue for us and this is even more important during difficult times such as these."

Families in the Harare suburb of Budiriro are living in the centre of an outbreak of cholera. Justine Lungu describes what he saw during a visit to the area on 27 November.

Justine Lungu, regional family strengthening programme advisor, who is based in Harare, accompanied SOS Social Centre Waterfalls family strengthening programme co-workers to Budiriro suburb, on the western edge of greater Harare on 27 November to assess the situation of families who are already partnering with the SOS Social Centre Waterfalls family strengthening programme and other families in the immediate community.

Here he reports on his impressions of the situation and the work that SOS Social Centre Waterfalls is undertaking to combat this specific threat:

"Of the more than three thousand beneficiaries we partner with in this programmes some of the families live in fairly decent brick built houses, but they have now fallen out of work and are struggling with their families. Then there are those whose houses are made out of tin or plastic and are living in a really deplorable housing situation. Some of these houses are actually very close to the Budiriro polyclinic which is one of the 'cholera treatment centres' which has been put in place. Although the area surrounding the clinic is generally fairly clean, the problem is with the sewage system as it is unable to cope with the numbers of people who are now using them. This is a major factor that is causing problems in the immediate area.

The families are very worried about becoming infected by cholera. There is no separation from those who are suffering from cholera and those that are not. Many of those who fall sick refuse to go to the polyclinic because there is no medication available there. These people who are sick are still sharing the few boreholes with people who are not infected. They also share food and toilets with those who are not yet infected. Because of the housing situation which is very over-crowded, children run from one house to another.

The sewage system has totally broken down in the area. It is very common to see children playing in pools of untreated sewage. They, and adults too, can often be seen trying to retrieve old plastic bags and other waste which they collect and then try and sell.

Families are collecting water from broken pipes which are leaking. However, as it is common knowledge that the municipal supplies of water are minimal in the area, it is possible that the pipes are actually sewage pipes rather than water pipes. From the households which I visited, none of them had managed to obtain water from bowsers provided by other aid agencies.

Family strengthening programme co-workers have been distributing information about prevention and treatment of cholera. These have been well received and are understood by community members, but when no water is available, options are limited. You can not treat water that you do not have. Water is what is needed for the families that we partner with.Cholera is causing havoc amongst the families we partner with."

Dr Douglas Gwatidzo, chairman of the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights group said in a public meeting held in Harare in the evening of 27 November that as a doctor it was very difficult to watch patients die of a preventable and treatable disease. "As a doctor it is very upsetting because you know what you are capable of doing. You know the kind of care that you can give to patients, but because of all these problems, you find yourself in a difficult situation.... I think the disaster is going to get worse. This afternoon, the rain was pouring down in Harare, and one can imagine the sewage that has been washed into the rivers. Also, the shallow wells that have been dug to get water are going to get contaminated, yet they will still be used."