With the increase in cases of water born diseases, such as typhoid, dysentery, and watery diarrhoea, there is a new worry that all of these diseases will reach epidemic level. This is creating a concern for the conditions in Zimbabwe regarding a reprise of a cholera epidemic like the one in 2008-2009 that killed 4,000 people. The country of Zimbabwe is asking for US support in fixing their sanitation issues after over a decade of neglect. It used to be worse but a third of Zimbabwe's population still only have limited access to clean water and health services. Although $80 million has already been donated during the previous outbreak of cholera, it is estimated that in order to obtain basic services and sustainable water for all $800 million will have to be donated annually.
The urban poor have been forced to get their water from shallow wells which are easily contaminated. This is due to poor sanitation infrastructure, the start of the rainy season, and cut-offs of water to households because of the inability of many people to pay their bills. It's no wonder that these waterborne diseases are nearly reaching epidemic level. The common people have no control over these things and are forced to due what they can to survive which is very often using whatever water they have available to them whether they know it's contaminated or not.
Officials from both the health center and NGO have assured IRIN that the situation is being monitored but have not confirmed whether there have actually been cases of cholera. This poses a major potential disaster because it is very hard to control outbreaks in the many vulnerable areas of Zimbabwe.
This article relates directly to what we are doing in class right now on the subject of cholera. Similarly to the epidemic outbreak of cholera in London, this potential outbreak in Zimbabwe would arise due to poor sanitation. It is an easy disease to cure but very hard to prevent in places that are in such poor condition.
I think this article is very interesting because it directly relates to what we are studying, like Lexie mentioned. This article also reminded me of the outbreak of cholera in Haiti. It’s sad and scary to think that people are getting this disease because they don’t have access to clean water. I also think it is sad that Zimbabwe has already experienced the effects of cholera when it killed 4,000 people to 2008-2009. This just goes to show how important it is to have clean water and take care of sanitary issues right when they occur. Now in 2011, there is a fear of another outbreak and I think the U.S. should definitely help, however, 800 million dollars is a lot of money.
ReplyDeleteThis article also caught my attention because it connects to what we are learning in class. It made me realize that even today there are still outbreaks of cholera around the world. It is upsetting to think that people don't have clean water to drink from and use. Little things like water that we take for granted are the reason that some people are getting sick because of unsanitary conditions.
ReplyDeleteThis article caught my attention because it directly relates to the cholera outbreak we are learning about in class. In London, the outbreak was caused due to limited access to clean water, and it is very sad to think that people in other countries still do not have clean water to drink. As it says in the article, Zimbabwe experienced one cholera outbreak a few years ago, and now they are facing another one. This recent outbreak shows that the country does not have a lot of clean water, and that sanitation is still an issue. I think it is very important that other countries try to help places like Zimbabwe get clean water so that diseases like cholera are not seen as often.
ReplyDeleteThis article really related directly to the unit our class is studying right now, on cholera. Both places where cholera was appearing, London and Zimbabwe, there were significantly poor sanitation within the towns and that left people with poor water supplies that could easily be contaminated. I think it is a shame that even today, in 2011, when some places have so much, others are left with inadequate water supplies. It is a lot for Africa to ask the US of donating more money each year, but of course we should help out the human population. It is easier to cure cholera than many other diseases, so we may as well help. However, if there ever is a more severe outbreak of cholera or some other illness in the US, we should definitely save our money and help our own nation first. I hope that it won't be long before places like Zimbabwe can get cleaner water and better sources to get their everyday drinking water from. Just like the web quest we did in class, one solution could be moving the place where they store their water, or find a new place altogether where they can get good water.
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