Cholera claims 26 lives in two outbreaks

A cholera outbreak in two northern districts of Zimbabwe has so far claimed the lives of 26 people, aid agencies reported on Monday. According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) a total of 173 cholera cases have been recorded in Kariba (Mashonaland West) and Binga (Matabeleland North) since the outbreak in mid-October. UNICEF said although unsafe drinking water was the main cause for the rapid spread of the disease in the affected communities, "poor communication from the ministry of health and child welfare" was to blame for the slow response to the outbreak. The agency warned that as the rainy season approached, the current critical shortage of chemicals to treat water could heighten the danger of cholera and other waterborne diseases. Last week the official Herald newspaper reported that a major supplier of water treatment chemicals had cut supplies to the city council of the capital, Harare, for allegedly failing to pay a debt of Zim $3,2 billion (US $40,000 at the official rate of Zim $824 to US $1). In response to the outbreak, UNICEF had dispatched 140,000 water treatment tablets and was in the process of procuring water containers and chlorinated lime for decontaminating water. As households across the country continued to battle economic difficulties, the World Food Programme (WFP) this week reported an increase in the number of children under five years registering retarded growth in Harare and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city. In its latest situation report, WFP noted that although some 35,000 of these children were enrolled for supplementary feeding at 20 clinics across the capital, there had been a 30 percent readmission of malnourished children at Harare Hospital. Despite UNICEF's efforts to assist the growing number of children in need, HIV/AIDS had exacerbated the situation. "Retarded growth is a direct result of the lack of food, especially varied food. Urban households cannot afford the food basket, which means children are not getting the required nutritional intake. What has made the situation worse is, of course, the HIV/AIDS pandemic," UNICEF information officer Shantha Bloemen told IRIN. "Generally, children who are malnourished - registering retarded growth - recover within 21 days after they have received assistance. However, health care centres have remarked that many of the children who are readmitted have HIV. Their recovery is likely to be more complicated, given their HIV status," Bloemen explained. She added: "If the food crisis continues we can expect to see the nutritional status of children deteriorate. It is necessary to target infant feeding, especially since it is during these formative years when children are most vulnerable."