Death toll hits 294 in Zimbabwe cholera outbreak

Almost 300 people have died of cholera in Zimbabwe as shortages of food and clean drinking water worsen and the country’s health system collapses, U.S. Ambassador James McGee said.

A report today showed 294 confirmed deaths from the disease, McGee told reporters in Washington via videolink from the Zimbabwean capital, Harare. An additional 1,200 cases of cholera have been confirmed and 2,500 are unconfirmed, he said.

“The health system here has totally collapsed,” McGee said. “The three major hospitals here in Harare have closed.”

McGee said the U.S. may impose additional sanctions to compel President Robert Mugabe to implement a power-sharing agreement reached in September with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. The two sides have failed to form a government because of a dispute over how to divide Cabinet posts, aggravating the humanitarian crisis, he said.

“The political situation has created a concurrent situation on the food and health side of the house that is, frankly, intolerable,” McGee said. “I don’t see anything that’s going to alleviate these problems until the government of Robert Mugabe starts to act in good faith.”

State media previously reported that cholera had killed about 127 people in Zimbabwe since the outbreak began last month.

Patients Turned Away

McGee said doctors and nurses aren’t being paid and some clinics in the countryside are turning away patients, McGee said. He traveled through the countryside recently and saw children with the distended bellies suggesting malnutrition. The U.S. is trying to increase food assistance and help provide clean drinking water.