Zimbabwe aid diary: Fighting cholera

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More than 3,300 people have died from the worst outbreak of cholera in Zimbabwe's history, which has infected nearly 66,000 people.

The epidemic has been fuelled by the country's economic meltdown, which has led to the collapse of the country's water, health and sanitation systems.

Matthew Cochrane, from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, is keeping a diary for the BBC News website as he travels around Zimbabwe this week to see the situation for himself.

WEDNESDAY, 4 FEBRUARY, GWERU

There is a tendency sometimes when talking about an emergency operation like this one to focus too much on the international assistance side of it.

International aid does play an important role. But the most important work is always done by local people.

The training sessions have contributed to profound drops in the number of cholera deaths - up to 80% in some districts

This is certainly the case here in Zimbabwe.

I found myself thinking a lot about Nyengera, the nurse running the clinic in Kwekwe.

He and his team were working 22-hour days during the peak of the outbreak, sleeping fitfully and fleetingly.

They were absolutely overwhelmed, but that was not a reflection on their commitment or competency.

They didn't have the resources or the necessary support. That's where we - the international aid workers - could and did help.

Hide and seek

On Tuesday morning, before leaving Gweru - the capital of Midlands province and our base camp during our time at Kwekwe - we went to the local Zimbabwe Red Cross training centre.

There, Rachel Meaghers, a public health specialist from the Canadian Red Cross, was running a workshop for about 40 nurses from the province.

According to Rachel, the training sessions have contributed to profound drops in the number of cholera deaths - up to 80% in some districts. We left Gweru early on Tuesday afternoon and drove south for a couple of hours to Gwanda.

We met with Nhlanhla Twala, the Zimbabwe Red Cross's provincial manager for Matabeleland South, who confirmed what we had already seen and heard elsewhere - that this epidemic had taken a new twist - one of hide and seek in the bush.

Nurses were having to find cholera sufferers in communities scattered in rural areas.

New fears

But Nhlanhla had other concerns. He is worried about malaria.

There has been a lot of rain to date and the illness is endemic in this province.

Imagine that: No food, no running water or sanitation, a severe risk of cholera and now a fear of malaria.

One final note - I spoke to the head of the British Red Cross mass sanitation unit this morning.

In the next few days, his team and a gang of local Red Cross Red Crescent volunteers will start building an array of latrines at Tiger Reef (the mining town near Kwekwe).

This will have a huge impact on containing that town's crisis.

His concern now - one shared by all of us here in Zimbabwe - is finding money to continue this kind of adaptive programming.

Despite the undeniable need, and despite the value of the work we are doing, our operation is only 41% covered financially.

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<a class="bodl" href="/1/hi/world/africa/7866734.stm">Read Tuesday's cholera diary</a>

<a class="bodl" href="/1/hi/world/africa/7864575.stm">Read Monday's cholera diary</a>