| 4th June 2009
GOAL has been responding to the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe since December 2008. This epidemic began in August of 2008 and has affected 55 out of the 62 districts so far.
GOAL’s approach to this emergency focuses on both cholera prevention at household level and supporting the clinical care of cholera patients at various health facilities.
The number of reported cholera cases in Zimbabwe stood at 98,247 on the 17th of May 2009, with 4,278 resulting deaths reported by this same date. The rate of cholera fatalities in Zimbabwe remains high at 4.4%; much higher than the internationally accepted rate of 1%.
To date GOAL has delivered “cholera awareness messaging” and a cholera prevention kit to over 120,000 households across 7 districts (Harare, Makoni, Nyanga, Kariba, Hunungwe, Mount Darwin, and Guruve). Each kit contains a bucket/ jerry can (for carrying water), soap, water purification tablets and an information leaflet in both Shona (the local language) and english.
GOAL has provided material support to 30 “Cholera Treatment Units” across the Hurungwe, Makoni and Nyanga districts, where over 2,805 cholera patients received treatment.
GOAL is working on community led “clean up campaigns” in partnership with Harare City Council and is also providing essential equipment to Harare City Council for the unblocking of sewers and storm drains in these high population density areas.
GOAL’s response to the outbreak has been praised by UNICEF and the National Ministry of Health and local medical professionals. Based on the quality of GOAL Zimbabwe’s work, we have been asked to expand our operation into other high-risk areas.
The transport of medical and non-medical supplies from urban centres to rural districts is also being provided by GOAL, as well as the collection of relevant health information and medical training for staff at district level in Hurungwe, Makoni & Nyanga.
GOAL is continuing to clean up dumps and other high-risk areas in an attempt to halt the spread of the disease. Work is now commencing on cleaning up 50 large dump site areas and the installation of 12 skips for sanitary waste disposal.
In Hatcliff, as a continuation to the previous large scale clean-up, GOAL is providing plastic bags to support weekly cleanup campaigns by the community.
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