Dec 1 2009
TIME examines growing concerns about increasing risks of a cholera outbreak among the people of Zimbabwe, after an outbreak last year claimed "close to 5,000 lives in the country of 12 million."
"According to the United Nations, there have already been five cholera-related deaths and 116 people have been afflicted with the disease since September," the magazine writes. The Zimbabwean government maintains they are "in control of the situation," according to the country health minister.
The article examines how shortages of clean water contribute to the spread of cholera and efforts underway to prevent a second cholera outbreak (Mavhunga, 11/30).
In related news, Kenya's Public Health and Sanitation Minister Beth Mugo announced Sunday that over the past week, 50 people had died from cholera, the Daily Nation reports. Mugo requested about $7.4 million from the treasury to increase surveillance and treatment for the disease (11/29).
This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente. |