This AAP story found in Yahoo News reports on the aid efforts of the Red Cross in Zimbabwe.
The capital Harare is the worst-affected area with 177 deaths and 6,448 suspected cases - more than half the total number of cases nationwide, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.
Cholera is the latest challenge to hit the poverty-wracked southern African nation that is already struggling with political instability and rampant hyperinflation.
The Red Cross said Wednesday it has given more than 200,000 Swiss francs ($A2.5 million) to the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society in the last two weeks to provide health and hygiene kits for more than 11,000 people in seven provinces.
"The most effective way to fight cholera is prevention. We are working to empower communities to take the steps needed to protect themselves from this deadly but curable and preventable disease," said John Fleming, Southern Africa health care coordinator for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
The IFRC also warned that cholera had already spread across Zimbabwe's border to neighbouring South Africa where six deaths and 400 cases have so far been reported.
Local Red Cross staff in the Musina region of South Africa have been distributing prevention information leaflets to local communities and supporting health authorities, the IFRC said.
4 comments:
Hello
My name is Abdoul and I am working at Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders in London. I would like to get in touch as we launch a campaign of appeal to Zimbabwe.
We obviously want to spread this message as far as we can and I know that for this particular place, mainstream media isn't necessarily the place to do that and that the online communities who care about the situation is big and very active. I was basically wondering if you would like to cover this issue on your blog.You can get more information about our involvement in Zimbabwe at http://www.msf.org.uk/msf_reponds_beitbridge_20081127.news.
I apologise for contacting you out of the blue - I found you through various online networks and through your blog itself and I have only contacted you because I thought you might be genuinely interested in this topic.
Thanks for taking the time to read this far
Abdoul,
Sure thing Abdoul! We love Medecins Sans Frontieres and would love to help out. I'll make a summation of your link the first post today.
Also, we have subscribed to the organizations RSS feed, so that will make it easier for me to see updates.
If you need anything else write via comment and I think my e-mail is listed in the "about me" link.
Hello Kale
It is Abdoul we are acutally launching a campaign of awareness of the situation in zimbabwe as it worsen on the dailybasis we already have 500 msf staff there and it is still not enough ans as there are other human crisis in the world there is less and less coverage of the situation .We have new posts on our website and also report of msf nurse about the difficulties she faces everyday so please if you can cover it on your blog that would be great.Here is the link http://www.msf.org.uk/beyond_cholera_zimbabwe_20090217.news
I thought that you might be genuwinely interested
Thanks again for your help
Thank you Abdoul, we will have your latest as our last story before the weekend. I usually take breaks thru most of the weekend, so your story will be at the top of the page thouought.
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