December 04, 2008	Thursday	Zilhaj 5, 1429

GENEVA, Dec 3: The death toll from cholera in Zimbabwe rose to 565 on Wednesday, with 12,546 cases of the acute intestinal disease reported nationwide, the United Nations said.

The capital Harare is the worst-affected area with 177 deaths and 6,448 suspected cases — more than half the total number of cases nationwide, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.

Cholera is the latest challenge to hit the poverty-wracked southern African nation that is already struggling with political instability and rampant hyperinflation.

The Red Cross said on Wednesday it has given more than 200,000 Swiss francs ($165,000) to the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society in the last two weeks to provide health and hygiene kits for more than 11,000 people in seven provinces.

“The most effective way to fight cholera is prevention. We are working to empower communities to take the steps needed to protect themselves from this deadly but curable and preventable disease,” said John Fleming, Southern Africa health care coordinator for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Cresecent Societies (IFRC).

The IFRC also warned that cholera had already spread across Zimbabwe’s border to neighbouring South Africa where six deaths and 400 cases have so far been reported.

Local Red Cross staff in the Musina region of South Africa have been distributing prevention information leaflets to local communities and supporting health authorities, the IFRC said.

“Cholera is a disease that is endemic in this region, and Red Cross societies have well-established contingency plans and are prepared to respond as efficiently as possible,” Fleming said.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced emergency measures Tuesday to increase health services, provide nutritional supplements and widen access to safe water in Zimbabwe.

Its effort will include buying essential medicines for 70 per cent of the Zimbabwe’s population of 11 million, immunisation for 1.5 million children and emergency support and protection for 250,000 orphans and vulnerable children.

“Schools and hospitals are closing, while teachers, nurses and doctors are not reporting for duty,” said Roeland Monasch, UNICEF’s acting country representative from Zimbabwe.—AFP