Water shortages lead to cholera threat in Harare, government says measures in place to contain outbreak

Radio VOP reports on water shortages in the high-density suburbs of the Zimbabwean capital of Harare, writing that some "have gone for a week without water raising fears of a cholera outbreak and bringing back fresh memories of the 4,000 people across the country killed in a cholera disaster in 2008" (10/21). But Health and Child Welfare Ministry officials in Zimbabwe "say the government has successfully curbed over 1,000 cases of cholera recorded during the first half of this year, while indicating that measures have been put in place to contain another outbreak of the disease," the Zimbabwean reports.

"According to Ministry reports, cholera cases recorded in the first six months of the year reached 1,140 and 45 deaths countrywide with Manicaland contributing 80 percent of the statistics," the newspaper writes. "The head of Epidemiology and Disease Control in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Portia Manangazira, said the ministry had declared the fight against the diseases over, but urged people across the country to remain on high alert," according to the newspaper (10/17).