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Zimbabwe

Cholera hits Chiredzi

A cholera epidemic has swept accross Chiredzi district in the southern part of the country with at least a dozen people having been reportedly hospitalized during the past week.

Health officials in Masvingo said that they were still battling to contain the epidemic which claimed two lives in the Boli area last year.

The epidemic according to reliable sources has hit Chikombedzi and Chizvirizvi resettlement area amid fears that several parts of the district might have been affected Officials in the healthy ministry said more than ten villages might have been affected by the disease Masvingo provincial epidomeologist Amadeuf Shamu said health personnel were still battling to contain the disease.

Shamu however could not give figures of those currently detained in hospital .

However an official within the healthy ministry who refused to be named since he not allowed to talk to the press said a dozen people were detained in different healthy institutions in the districts.

"We so far have a dozen people who have tested positive and are currently receiving treatment at different hospitals in the district", said the official.

Healthy officials have attributed the outbreak to lack of good drinking water as some families in the affected areas are sharing drinking water with both wild and domestic animals.

Chiredzi West member of parliament Moses Mare last year appealed to the government to drill more boreholes in the area to ensure that clean water is accessible to villagers .

Mare said the water situation in parts of Chiredzi remains a stumbling block to contain the disease which he said is now a time bomb. "The water supply in the district is not good at all", said Mare.

"Most boreholes are not functional hence we are asking central government tom provide funds for borehole drilling",said Mare.

The inclusive government last year declared the Chiredzi cholera outbreak a national disaster .

According to sources within the healthy ministry most of those affected are young children and the elderly.

Zimbabwe was hard hit with the cholera epidemic in 2008 when more than 100 000 people were affected and at least 4000 killed.

The cholera outbreak was then ignited by the decade long economic meltdown which saw the country failing to provide basics to its citizens including clean water. Urban areas which normally have clean drinking were also not spared from 2008 cholera disaster.