- Cholera overwhelms Zimbabwe
- Vaccines distributed, cases persist
- Clean-up operation launched
On Sunday evening, Brian Moyo, the husband of Priscilla Moyo, returned to Harare from Mvurwi, located approximately 100 kilometres north of the capital, in good health. By 11 p.m., he began experiencing diarrhoea.
When his condition persisted into Tuesday morning, Moyo, 39, accompanied him to a clinic in Budiriro, a suburb near their home. There, she was informed that her husband had contracted cholera.
“He is currently receiving treatment,” she said despondently, pointing to a grey tent that served as an improvised treatment unit at the clinic. “He is on an intravenous drip, and they expect he will be able to go home today.”
A surge in cholera cases is overwhelming health facilities across Zimbabwe’s ten provinces. Some patients, like Brian, have recovered.
However, not everyone has been so fortunate.
Jessica Muzambezi, a young mother from the same suburb, lost her two-year-old son to cholera. “My son died because of a burst sewer near our house. The authorities failed to repair the sewer for two weeks.”
As of Tuesday, 25,780 cholera cases have been reported in Zimbabwe since the outbreak began a year ago. Although the official death toll from the government is 470, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in collaboration with Zimbabwean authorities, has estimated it at 528. Children remain the most vulnerable, with a third of all cases affecting those under the age of 15.
Many Zimbabweans blame the government.
The challenge is ongoing
Zimbabwe’s colonial-era sanitation system has been severely strained by the country’s growth from approximately 3.7 million in 1960 to 17 million today. Despite efforts, the failing economy has struggled to modernise infrastructure, and potable water remains inaccessible in many areas.
Experts say this has enabled the rapid spread of cholera, a disease mostly transmitted through contaminated food or water.
In 2008, cholera killed up to 4,000 people in Zimbabwe in one of the worst outbreaks in Africa. Then, as now, poor sanitation and a lack of clean water were to blame. The country was also experiencing the world’s highest hyperinflation, which decimated the healthcare system and rendered the local currency worthless.
The government of former president Robert Mugabe blamed Western governments for the outbreak, describing it as a “serious biological chemical war” and a “calculated racist terrorist attack” against Zimbabweans.
Over fifteen years later, the capital is again the epicentre of a public health crisis.
Although cases are increasing nationwide, Harare, the most populous province, has the highest concentration of new cases, accounting for a third of the total.
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In the city’s southern suburbs, including Budiriro, Glen View, and Highfield, dozens of World Health Organisation (WHO)-donated shelters are manned by local health professionals.
Zimbabwean authorities have also distributed vaccines to curb the epidemic. As of February 12, the country had received 97% of the 2.3 million doses approved by the International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision (ICG), with more expected later in the month. As of February 14, 1.5 million people (67 percent of the target population) had received an oral cholera vaccine (OCV), according to UNICEF.
In January, the health ministry launched Operation Chenesa Harare, named after the Shona word for “clean up,” in response to residents using undesignated dumping sites due to delayed waste collection. Some argue that the accumulation of waste resulted from the untimely allocation of resources.
