Zimbabwe cholera crisis eases

Africa's deadliest cholera outbreak in 15 years appears to have passed its worst, the World Health Organization said.

There have been more than 90,000 cholera cases in Zimbabwe since the start of the epidemic last August, about 4,000 of them fatal. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said official figures of the water-borne disease were probably a dramatic underestimate. But the World Health Organization (WHO) figures out yesterday show the number of new cases recorded in the week to mid-March nearly halved to 2,000, - which is still high, but an improvement on the 3,800 the week before and 8,000 cases a week in February.

The weekly fatality rate fell to 2.3 per cent in the week ended March 14 from a peak near six percent in January, the WHO said. But the agency warned the weekly statistics were not always accurate."The situation with the current cholera outbreak is improving," the WHO told reporters. "The overall trend over the last two months is of a decreasing number of cases and deaths," it added.

But despite the decline recorded in nearly all the southern African country’s provinces the WHO said the number of reported cases was on the rise again in and around the capital, Harare. "The risk of the outbreak restarting in those areas of the country is real," the WHO warned.The epidemic has been fuelled by the collapse of Zimbabwe's water, sanitation and health systems.

Cholera is a water-borne diarrhoeal disease that spreads through contaminated food and water. It is easily preventable and treatable but can cause severe dehydration and death. Zimbabwe's health system has all but collapsed in the country's economic crisis, with hospitals battling shortages of drugs, high cases of HIV/AIDS and nurses and doctors frequently on strike for higher pay. What has been the deadliest outbreak of cholera in Africa in 15 years has spread to neighbouring countries including South Africa.Last week, the government of Zimbabwe called a summit on water to focus on the delivery of clean water as the most critical part of a strategy to vanquish the disease.Public health experts say the restoration of water systems in cities, towns and rural areas is indispensable for halting the spread of cholera.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children