Zimbabwe gets tough at borders to try to contain cholera outbreak
Zimbabwe has put screening mechanisms in place at the country’s borders with Zambia‚ Mozambique‚ Botswana and SA in an attempt to contain a cholera outbreak. Health and child care minister Dr David Parirenyatwa said a national response team had put temporary holding camps in strategic areas‚ particularly on Zimbabwe’s borders with Zambia‚ where 3‚000 cases and more than 70 deaths had been reported. More than 155 cases had been reported in Mozambique. "Multisectoral teams have been activated at border posts and they work round the clock‚" he said. A record 8‚500 cholera cases were recorded within a week in 2008 as Zimbabwe declared the country’s worst outbreak in history a national disaster. The outbreak spread to Mpumalanga and Limpopo‚ prompting SA’s government to provide assistance on the Zimbabwean side of the border. Ten years later Zimbabwe is still vulnerable. Pockets of typhoid and cholera-related infections were detected in Harare‚ where the government has recorded at least ...
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