Zimbabwe has been grappling with the spread of deadly cholera in its cities and villages due to the country's lack of clean water. Cholera, an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by consuming food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, can spread quickly in cramped and dirty conditions. The outbreak first struck in February and as October ended, official figures from the Health and Childcare Department are listing nearly 6,000 cases and some 123 suspected deaths.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has promised a nationwide borehole-drilling programme, supported by solar-powered water points, mainly to serve some 35,000 villages that do not have access to clean drinking water. In the capital, Harare, residents can go for weeks or even months without a regular supply of water from the Harare City Council. In Harare's satellite township of Chitungwiza, more than 50 deaths were reported as October ended - all from cholera.
Chitungwiza is a city all of its own given its size and population, but the infrastructure of its water works and civil planning have barely caught up with an ever-expanding population and a massive exodus from the villages to the city in the constant search for work. As recently as last week, Harare pharmacist Panashe Chawana, 26, told me that he was seeing between two and three patients each day for cholera medication - children and adults, all showing the classic symptoms of the runs and a desperate lack of energy.
Aid organisation Mercy Corps, in an appeal for borehole funding, has warned that the situation is far from improving. "Despite a significant decline in cases from July to August, we now witness a worrying spike of cholera cases, particularly among women and children. In Manicaland, many people have to use crowded water facilities, while others must rely on unsafe wells and rivers for drinking water, putting them at further risk," Mildred Makore, the group's country director, said in a statement.
The World Health Organization's emergencies director Mike Ryan called cholera "a poster child of poverty, social injustice, climate change and conflict." It is not straightforward to see which of these can be pinned on President Mnangagwa's government, but the reported cholera cases point to a lack of will or ability or both to stem the occurrences by providing fresh water.
In Harare's southern suburbs, the search for water is a visual reality. Wheelbarrows are carted across many roads to community centres and churches with boreholes willing to open their taps and share their water. The government's investment in fresh water supplies has been underwhelming, and critics point to the disparities in wealth between those who can afford to sink boreholes in their backyards and those who cannot.
Precious Shumba, director of the Harare Residents' Trust, an NGO that says water shortages in the capital are worsening, urged the government to do more to help councils. He pointed to the cost of replacing broken pipes and chemicals, which were costing the City of Harare up to US$3m (£2.5m) a month.
With the heavens set to open for the seasonal rains, many fear the dirt and filth accumulated over months mean cholera, which lurks in shallow pools of water, will prove difficult to defeat. They continue the battle of keeping their toddlers away from the water taps and puddles and running the daily gauntlet of what is or not safe to drink.
