Cholera is spreading in Harare and outlying areas, independent health sources said on Wednesday, with the death toll from the epidemic rising to at least 100 with the country's virtually collapsed health care system hard put to cope with the outbreaks.
Experts
warned that until the causes of the cholera outbreak are addressed, in particular the lack of safe drinking water and deterioration of sanitation systems, the epidemic
will continue, claiming more lives.
A nurse at a Harare hospital speaking on
condition of anonymity said her institution was without rehydration fluids for two
days until a consignment of about 100 drips from the United Nations Children's Fund,
or UNICEF, arrived on Wednesday.
Correspondent Sylvia Manika reported from Harare.
Dr. Douglas Gwatidzo, chairman of the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights, told reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that with the disease on the rise the Harare region and drugs in short
supply, the death toll could mount.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's justice system has become the latest victim of
the water shortages that have beset the capital for months: the Harare High Court suspended sittings due to a
lack of water at its offices in Samora Machel Avenue, a main thoroughfare.
Members of the Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights were turned away as they tried to file an urgent
chamber application for the release of opposition activists.
Communications Officer Kumbirai Mafunda of the legal defense group expressed the concern that the closure was tantamount to denying justiceCorrespondent Irwin Chifera of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe reported.
More reports from VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe...
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