On the morning of Tuesday the 4th September 2018, the city of Harare in Zimbabwe, was hit by an outbreak of cholera.
The Government of Zimbabwe declared a state of emergency after cholera and typhoid spread fast hitting the capital city, infecting 7,000 and killing 28 people in 2 weeks in a high-density area. The emergency response is being coordinated by Ministry of Health and Child Welfare.
The disease has affected high-density suburbs in Harare and the situation is compounded by the fact that affected suburbs have open sewage, uncollected garbage and affected persons continue to expose themselves through unsafe hygiene practices.
Even though Zimbabwe central and local government has insufficient medication to support the affected, Zimbabwe Government has since established treatment centres to quarantine infected persons.
World Health Organization has reported that this cholera strain has proven to be resistant to first line of antibiotics, further compounding the problem.
ACT Zimbabwe Forum which has been in existence since 2000 is now planning to help people affected by the epidemic. ACT Zimbabwe forum is planning to submit a funding proposal to improve access to safe water, provide hand sanitizers, support water purification, garbage clearing and provide educative information to ensure that the epidemic affected persons’ basic needs are met with regards to WASH.
To ensure that the humanitarian response is well coordinated and complementary, Zimbabwe ACT forum will take part in meetings with all relevant sector stakeholders (clusters and working groups) and establish an open line of communication with crisis affected persons and communities to ensure a humanitarian response based on participation and feedback.
The plan is to support 70,000 persons in the coming months.
