Fears of serious water borne diseases spreading across Zimbabwe’s urban areas have been sparked due to severe crises within the country’s water and sanitation services – that have already led to a cholera outbreak in Harare.
At least 12 people in the capital’s Chitungwiza township have died as a result of the disease but medical officials say this number is likely much higher and merely ‘the tip of the iceberg’. Health centres in Harare as well as in Bulawayo are reportedly burdened by numerous cases of diarrhea on a daily basis and more deaths as a result are expected.
The water and sanitation situation across the country has been rapidly deteriorating as the ongoing political crisis has seen the destruction of the economy and the equal destruction of the country’s infrastructure. The Zimbabwe National Water Authority has come under heavy criticism for failing to provide a proper service – a failure that has left most homes dry and dependent on unsafe, unhealthy water supplies.
