Zimbabwe: coping with the cholera outbreak

©Reuters/Philimon Bulawayo

Patients suffering from cholera rest in a tent ward at Budiriro Polyclinic in Harare.

In front of the entrance, a white tent serves as a ward for critically-ill cholera patients, who lie in their beds with intravenous drips attached to their arms. A man with a tank of chlorinated water strapped to his back walks through the tent spraying the floors and walls to disinfect them. Inside the clinic, the antenatal, maternity and other wards are all housing cholera patients.

The outpatient waiting area is overflowing with patients. Some lie on benches or curled up on the floor, while others sit awkwardly, evidently in pain. Those with a little more strength sit up, sipping solutions of oral rehydration salts (ORS) while a nurse talks to them about cholera and hygiene. Meanwhile, two health workers hand out ORS to yet more patients. In front of their table, a man awaits his turn with a bag of intravenous fluid hanging from his neck and a tube connected to his arm.

The ward is lined with benches, all packed with cholera patients attached to intravenous fluid bags hanging from makeshift stands. Some patients are writhing in pain, some are vomiting, while others just lie there, helpless. According to a nurse, "The situation is getting worse. We have a shortage of gloves and other supplies and the number of cases continues to increase." Another member of staff tells us about the upswing in cholera cases. "The clinic screened about 200 patients suffering from diarrhoea yesterday between 5 p.m. and midnight. We treated most of them with rehydration fluids, but we had to admit 57 for treatement." Humanitarian agencies in Zimbabwe report over 9,000 recorded cases of cholera and more than 350 deaths since September.

Medical personnel attribute the resurgence of cholera to a lack of safe water in many parts of the city. Residents in some areas have to fetch water from shallow wells and other potentially contaminated sources. Another factor is the rain. It is the rainy season in Zimbabwe, and while rainwater that has been on the ground is risky, it is also readily available.

At Budiriro polyclinic, the ICRC is providing intravenous hydration fluids, oral rehydration salts, cleaning materials, protective items such as gloves, and other supplies. The organization is also supplying food for the health staff. Since the epidemic began at the beginning of November, the ICRC has provided the eight polyclinics it supports with about 1,000 litres of intravenous fluids, 20,000 doses of ORS, more than 2,500 refuse bags and enough food to sustain 50 health staff for four weeks.

The lack of safe water is affecting the clinics, so the ICRC has drilled two boreholes, at Budiriro and Glen View polyclinics, to provide a long-term solution. Pumps will be installed at the boreholes this week but as a temporary measure the ICRC is delivering water by truck to the polyclinics it supports at Budiriro, Glen View and Rutsanana. Each clinic has been receiving over 5,000 litres of water twice a week since the beginning of November. The polyclinics in Rutsanana and Mabvuku already had boreholes, and the ICRC is renovating them in order to get their water supply systems going again.

Zimbabwe Red Cross Society volunteers are working in the clinics, washing and helping the patients. The ICRC is cooperating closely with the ministry of health and the City of Harare Health Department, and remains ready to support the authorities and coordinate with other humanitarian organizations.

For further information, please contact:
Robin Waudo, ICRC Harare, tel. +2634 790 268 or +2639 122 40 960
Anna Schaaf, ICRC Geneva, tel. +41 22 730 2271 or +41 79 217 3217