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Medical supplies reach cholera-hit Zimbabwe

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-22 23:25

HARARE -- A first consignment of UNICEF aid has arrived in Zimbabwe to help fight the cholera epidemic which has killed more than 1,120 people, the UN agency said Monday.

A cholera victim lays in a hospital ward at the Budiriro Polyclinic in Harare earlier this month. A first consignment of UNICEF aid has arrived in Zimbabwe to help fight the cholera epidemic which has killed more than 1,120 people, the UN agency has said. [Agencies]

Related readings:  UN says Zimbabwe cholera death toll reaches 1,111  China considers sending emergency aid to Zimbabwe  Zimbabwe police charge protesters, cholera spreads  Health groups: Unknown thousands dying in Zimbabwe

Intravenous fluids, drip equipment, essential drugs, midwifery and obstetric kits were delivered by air on Sunday, said a UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) statement. More relief supplies are expected on Monday.

The medicines were to be used to boost government health services, particularly for pregnant women, it said.

"This is a strategic measure to address a desperate situation," said UNICEF acting representative in Zimbabwe, Roeland Monasch. "We are already supplying 70 percent of the country's essential drugs and these airlifted supplies will further boost UNICEF's life-saving support."

UNICEF supplies more than half a million litres of portable water daily, together with 3,800 tonnes of water treatment chemicals for urban areas in Zimbabwe, the statement said.

The World Health Organisation said on Friday that 1,123 people had died in the epidemic with about 21,000 reported cases.

Cholera is the latest crisis to hit President Robert Mugabe's embattled government which is desperately fighting hyper-inflation, desperate food shortages and chronic political instability.

Cholera has also been reported in other southern African countries, with South Africa recording 11 deaths and Malawi five. Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia have also reported a small number of cases, according to the UN.