Crippling Cholera

It's one of the fastest-working murderous diseases around today, and is known to kill victims within three hours if they do not receive medical care. Yet the disease is treatable and preventable, if resources are available.

Cholera is wreaking havoc in Zimbabwe, where the biggest epidemic in 15 years has already killed approximately 5,000 of the 98,000 who have been infected (that's an approximately 1 in 20 fatality rate!).
I had not heard of this outbreak until this week, when I received a letter asking for help from a charitable organization I regularly support. The disease (according to my unscientific cholera research on Wikipedia) is spread through poor sanitation as well as unclean drinking water and food. According to a CNN article from May of this year, UNICEF blaims the current epidemic on "faulty sewage systems, uncollected refuse and a lack of clean water."

The latest news from Zimbabwe is not bright for those seeking to curb the spread of the disease. According to a Reuters report filed on Wednesday, state doctors have gone on strike seeking better pay. This has paralyzed hospitals that were already struggling to deal with the economic crisis.

Here's an excerpt from that Reuters article:

(Brighton Chizhanje, president of Zimbabwe's Hospital Doctors' Association) said that any extended doctors' strike risked reversing the small gains made in reviving state hospitals.

"We are concerned about the lack of seriousness and prioritisation of the health sector. We wouldn't want to go back to last year's situation where all major hospitals were forced to shut down and turn away patients," Brighton Chizhanje, he said.

I'm not sure what will be done to rectify the situation in Zimbabwe, but I do know that I will now be paying more attention to news reports from south Africa. My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Zimbabwe.