MSF - Zimbabwe's Health System Has "Collapsed" - Expect Much More Than Cholera In Near Future

[hatrack]

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Zimbabwe's health system has collapsed and the southern African nation, now overwhelmed by cholera, soon will see other epidemics, a worsening AIDS crisis, and the effects of widespread malnutrition, the international doctors group Medecins Sans Frontieres said yesterday. The Nobel Prize-winning group urged foreign donors and Zimbabwe's government to do more in light of the crisis. It said the government was making it difficult for aid agencies by charging exorbitant fees for visas for foreign health experts and for testing imported medication.

"You've all heard about the disastrous cholera epidemic," said Dr. Christophe Fournier, MSF's international president, who spent four days touring Zimbabwe. "However catastrophic this epidemic is, it is only the most visible manifestation of a much broader crisis in the whole country. Actually the whole public-health system in Zimbabwe is down, it has collapsed."

Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic - blamed on collapsed water, sanitation, and health services - has killed more than 3,600 people and infected 60,000 since August.

The next epidemic could be malaria, the group said, because Zimbabwe has been unable to afford preventive measures such as insecticide-treated nets and peak season for malaria is imminent. The crisis is blamed on economic collapse linked to mismanagement and corruption under President Robert Mugabe's rule. Mugabe remains president under a new unity government.

EDIT

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20090218_Aid_group_warns_Zimbabwe_is_facing_wider_health_crisis.html

[aquart]

1. Well, they'll certainly have fewer people to feed.

[kestrel91316]

2. Yeah. Have to think positive here.........