Zimbabwe’s Cholera Victims Find Salvation in South Africa

Cholera is typically transmitted through water or food contaminated by fecal matter, reports the World Health Organization. A corrupt government in Zimbabwe has made sanitation a low priority, and perhaps the biggest tragedy for its people is that a disease so easily treatable goes neglected. Treatment includes simple rehydration or hydration salts, reports WHO, but Zimbabwe health workers lack supplies and therefore confront mortality rates of up to 50 percent for untreated cases. Zimbabweans flee to hospitals in neighboring South Africa for help. Zimbabwe’s dictator Robert Mugabe has unleashed police on protesting doctors and nurses, many of whom who could find work in more stable nations. Some health-care workers accuse WHO and the government of underestimating the cholera deaths, reports Basildon Peta for the Independent, yet with so many dying at home, the official tally is bound to be uncertain. – YaleGlobal