Cholera epidemic kills 2,225 people but there are more than 42,675 other cases as health conditions deteriorate in Zimbabwe, UNICEF says. The Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund, Ann Veneman, on a three-day visit to this southern African nation, visited a hospital where weakened victims of the waterborne disease are being treated.
Veneman toured the hospital in Budiriro, a crowded neighborhood of Harare, Friday. UNICEF has provided food and medicine to keep the hospital functioning since October. She said that although the crowding has fallen since two months ago, this does not mean that the cholera epidemic that has swept the country is slowing.
A report from Geneva says lack of clean water and proper hygiene was causing re-infection after treatment and every day 1,550 new cases are still being reported.
Veneman thanked health workers who have been traveling around Budiriro on bicycle to distribute water purification tablets and offer hygiene advice.
She also met President Robert Mugabe on Friday but no details have been released of the meeting.