Zimbabwe is in the news. That’s nothing new of course but the coverage of the cholera outbreak is unusually intense. Apparently the health authorities in Musina just over the border in South Africa are struggling to keep up with influx of infected refugees. The BBC also reports that the deputy Health Minister has said that nobody who is ill will be turned away – the South African constitution guarantees that they will be treated. Of course they will be treated – they don’t want an outbreak in South Africa!
Just about all the government hospitals have closed here. I verified this with the nurse who took blood from me today. The Parirenyatwa which is a big teaching hospital in Harare closed 3 weeks ago and the Harare Hospital about a week before that. If you don’t have the funds to use one of the private clinics then you can always try one of the mission hospitals which are still functioning and failing that… Well, you are going to die. She shrugged philosophically. And this is all due to a lack of funds. My blood was destined to go to one of the private clinics. I drove past the Pary (as its abbreviation is known) on the way out and indeed it looked deserted. The perpetrators of this policy of deliberate neglect will probably get away with it though in my opinion they are as guilty as Slobodan Milosevic for crimes against humanity.
Zimbabwe Absurdity 
That is tragic! People here continue to ask after you.
Where are you getting drinking water?
Our drinking wate here is good – from a deep borehole some distance from anywhere. There is a lot of misinformation about cholera. It is an easy disease to treat if caught early. The problem arises if it is not caught early and dehydration sets in. The stomach lining becomes inflamed and won’t absorb fluids; then a drip has to be set up. WHO has said that there are plenty of drips and places for people to go and be treated in Harare but personnel trained in setting up the drips are lacking.
Dredging back through my mind I recall hiking Ngomokarira. Lovely spot! Wasn’t that close to the site of awful memories for you?
Yes, close enough. That was in Chinhamora. A few years back I drove around the area looking for “the” kopje but they all looked unfamiliar and I don’t recall a road close by anyway. I don’t regard it as an awful memory at all. There’s nothing I can do about it. I WAS a VERY long time ago anyway! 😉
On last nights news Bob was saying there is no cholera!!!
Ah, well, there seems to have been a change of mind then. Now we are blaming it all on the Brits! Check out http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7780728.stm
A little unlikely I think, what are the real casualty figures, I presume the official ones are only those that die in any hospitals that are still open!
In the thousands I would think. Had dinner 10 days ago with some friends. A guest was with the ICRC and they’d just done a trip to see a treatment centre in Chinhoyi. He said most people there were being incorrectly treated – mostly badly setup drips. Several were going to die and 2 should not have been there at all – they were sitting chatting having a sandwich and revelling in the novelty of having a drip put in! Apparently very few people actually develop symptoms, about 80% of those who come into contact become carriers. It is not that easy to contract i.e. just shaking hands and not washing before eating is very unlikely to be a problem. One has to ingest significant quantities of the bacteria (Vibrio cholerae).