South Africa declares region bordering on Zimbabwe cholera disaster area

The continuing disintegration of Zimbabwe under the autocratic rule of Robert Mugabe is now intensifying the risks to its neighbors. We reported yesterday about the cholera epidemic that hit Zimbabwe — the World Health Organization says 60,000 are infected, and nearly 800 have already died. Cholera is a preventable and treatable disease — but not in Zimbabwe, where the government does not provide health services (or, for that matter, any services) to the population. What caused the epidemic to spread like brushfire is the fact that government corruption coupled with economic sanctions imposed on the country have caused power plants, water facilities, and sewage treatment plants to shut down across the country, limiting the access of the population to clean water.

South Africa is feeling the heat. NewsV reports that the flow of Zimbabweans crossing into South Africa due to the cholera epidemic has caused South Africa to declare the border a region a disaster area. Francoise Le Goff of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies said that many people cross the South African border from Zimbabwe everyday because they’re infected with cholera and are seeking re-hydration treatment. “There is some worry that by providing too much care it will attract people. That is something that definitely worries always government or organizations providing care. But so far I don’t think it is at the level which cannot be managed,” Le Goff says.

Cholera centers have been set up in South Africa providing professional care. The Red Cross is now stepping up cholera prevention efforts, which include information on washing hands, preparing food, the risks of drinking well water in contaminated areas, and the need to boil water or use chlorine or some other water purification chemical. “We know that cholera is becoming dangerous when people have long (periods of) diarrhea. It usually starts with cramps. And when it’s too long, when it’s more than two days, people will be dehydrated. So they need in that case to replace fluids they’ve lost by drinking a lot. It’s a very simple, but very effective way to be re-hydrated when they can have a full spoon of sugar and one spoon of salt in one liter of water and drink that,” she says.

As the influx of Zimbabweans continues into South Africa, in Zimbabwe itself, President Mugabe bizarrely said his government has actually stopped the cholera epidemic. The Zimbabwean leader also accused Western leaders of using the outbreak to try to oust him from power. The head of Save the Children in Zimbabwe said Thursday there is much evidence the crisis is growing, and that many people have been unable to get to cholera treatment centers.

Within the past week, U.S. president George Bush, British prime minister Gordon Brown, French president Nicolas Sarkozy, and Kenyan prime minister Raila Odinga have all issued calls for Mugabe to resign.