Sanitation and water crises spark disease fears in urban areas

By Alex Bell
23 September 2008

Fears of serious water borne diseases spreading across Zimbabwe’s urban areas have been sparked due to severe crises within the country’s water and sanitation services – that have already led to a cholera outbreak in Harare.

At least 12 people in the capital’s Chitungwiza township have died as a result of the disease but medical officials say this number is likely much higher and merely ‘the tip of the iceberg’. Health centres in Harare as well as in Bulawayo are reportedly burdened by numerous cases of diarrhea on a daily basis and more deaths as a result are expected.

The water and sanitation situation across the country has been rapidly deteriorating as the ongoing political crisis has seen the destruction of the economy and the equal destruction of the country’s infrastructure. The Zimbabwe National Water Authority has come under heavy criticism for failing to provide a proper service – a failure that has left most homes dry and dependent on unsafe, unhealthy water supplies.

The Water Authority’s inability to provide clean and safe drinking water has seen the Combined Harare Residents Association call for the management of the city’s sewage and water reticulation services to be handed back to the city council. The association’s Simbarashe Moyo explained on Tuesday that the crisis in the city, particularly in areas such as Chitungwiza, has not eased and no move has been made by responsible officials to provide clean water. He added that the crisis is a ‘national situation that needs to be addressed using a national platform’ saying cities across the country are experiencing the same desperation.

The collapse of the country’s sanitation system has exacerbated the situation, with raw sewerage openly flowing from burst pipes in many residential areas and rubbish not being disposed of or collected. The collapse of such basic services means the health of millions of Zimbabweans, already suffering because of the humanitarian crisis in the country, is being threatened with serious diseases.

The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights said in a statement on Tuesday that the new government ‘must address this crisis as a matter of urgency’ saying that cholera outbreaks are ‘symptomatic of serious structural problems within the system of public works’. The Association added that it was not enough for the Ministry of Health to respond to any disease outbreak ‘only after it has occurred’ saying the Ministry needs to work to ensure further diseases are prevented and the ‘right to the highest attainable state of physical and mental wellbeing is respected’.