As Swine Flu spectre hovers over Africa, second Cholera spike expected in Zimbabwe

"The water problems which spurred on the outbreak last year [2008] still persist, so as we draw towards the wet season, we are bracing ourselves for another outbreak," Singizi said.

SHOOT: Swine flu will burn through the tinderbrush African populations that are already weakened by Cholera, AIDS, malaria and other indigenous epidemics. All these people are vulnerable because of lazy government attitudes to health care, and the funneling of funds into a few individual purses. Now the price for such short-sighted individualism comes home to roost. There needs to be a transition to a sense of community, rather than each man for himself. That may happen after this crisis passes. That may be the lesson learnt from it, for the survivors.

clipped from www.irinnews.org Photo: WHO/Paul Garwood Zimbabwe registered close to 100,000 cholera cases during the last outbreak HARARE, 8 July 2009 (IRIN) - Despite a steady drop in newly registered cases and cholera-related deaths in Zimbabwe, the onset of the summer rainy season in September has aid agencies worried that the disease could spike again, and relief from Africa's worst cholera outbreak in 15 years may be short-lived. "There are fears of yet another outbreak," Tsitsi Singizi, information Officer of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), told IRIN. Since cholera was first reported in August 2008, close to 100,000 people have been infected and over 4,000 have died. Aid agencies have been gearing up for the eventuality of a serious comeback by drilling 200 new boreholes in cholera hotspots, distributing hygiene kits, and sensitization and education efforts to better equip Zimbabweans to cope.