Health disaster looms on resettled Masvingo farms

A health crisis could break out on 100 farms with over 7,000 families resettled in Zimbabwe’s southern Masvingo province, the ‘Daily News’ reported on Tuesday. The families have been resettled under the government’s fast-track programme and are suffering from a shortage of sanitary and health facilities. Masvingo provincial administrator, Alphonse Chikurira, last week said most of the families were in areas without health facilities. “You will find there are no clinics and proper sanitary facilities,thereby exposing themselves to cholera.

Since February, war veterans, supporters of the ruling ZANU-PF party and the rural landless have been settled on hundreds of white-owned farms under the government’s controversial land programme. But in most cases no resources have been made available to provide housing, seeds, tools, health care and schooling for resettled families.

“There are mosquito-infested farms in Masvingo province with some of the families so poor they cannot afford mosquito nets,” Chikurira said. He said plans were underway to turn farm houses into health centres to cater for the families. This would enable resettled families to receive medical services from established health centres.