Rain season Zimbabwe will trigger more cholera deaths

If the cholera outbreak itself is not enough, Zimbabwe has to brace itself once again. According to international aid organisations, the humanitarian crisis is expected to escalate and worsen due to seasonal rainfall.

Currently, over 1.600 people have died and 31.000 are infected with the disease.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) the infection rate has showed no single sign of slowing. The collapse of health and sanitation systems in the country is one of the culprits, with the coming rain season being a catalyst.

Cholera is a waterborne disease which causes severe diarrhoea and dehydration. It is not very contagious as it does not spread from person to person. People get sick by consuming contaminated water or eating produce which has been washed in this water.

"We are just preparing for the worst," said Francoise Le Goff in an interview with the press agency Reuters. Le Goff is the head of southern African operations of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (ICRC). 

He added that if the rains continue to swell, the epidemic could last until March or April this year.

Various aid agencies urge a massive scale-up of operations to get on top of the disease. "If we do not do what we need to do as a humanitarian community now, it could be catastrophic," said Matthew Cochrane, a spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, in an interview with Voice of America.

"Typically, you do not see really the first cases of cholera arrive until the rains come and then they flood out the shallow wells and septic tanks. But, now, we have already got a very serious situation and rain will only make it much, much worse. It is against the clock now. It is critical. And, we really need to be pushing through on this."

The outbreak, which started in Zimbabwe's capital Harare, has spread to all of Zimbabwe's ten provinces.