The United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned that Zimbabwe remained at risk of a fresh outbreak of cholera once the next rainy season starts in less than five months´ time, Mirror has established.

The OCHA said in a report released on Tuesday last week that structural causes at the root of the current epidemic that killed more than 4 000 people over the past 11 months had not been addressed and could therefore trigger another outbreak during the approaching rainy season. “As the next rainy season approaches, there are, however, fears of another cholera outbreak because the structural causes of the current epidemic have not been fully addressed,” the OCHA report said.

It adds: “These include broken-down and anachronistic water and sanitation infrastructure characterised by burst sewer systems and water pipes, often resulting in sewerage contaminating water before it reaches household level.”

The OCHA said the current epidemic had reached its tail end as indicated by the lower number of cases and deaths being reported.

By 15 July 2009, the cumulative number of cases of cholera infections reported since August 2008 was 98 592, an increase of 61 new cases from the 98 531 cases recorded by the same time in June. The number of cumulative deaths was 4 288, representing an increase of six from the 4 282 reported at the same time last month, with 2 631 community deaths in mid-July, which shows an increase by one from 2 630 in mid-June, according to OCHA.

The UN humanitarian arm said most Zimbabweans had no access to safe water, raising the risk of catching cholera in the event of an outbreak. “The challenge of limited safe water and frequent water cuts that force people to resort to unsafe sources, including shallow wells, ponds and dams, amongst others, has not been addressed,” the agency said.

“The revised Consolidated Appeal for 2009, partners in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) cluster estimate that six million people in Zimbabwe have limited or no access to safe water. Furthermore, some rural areas have extremely low latrine coverage, resulting in unhygienic practices that lead to the contamination of water sources during the rainy season. A combination of these factors increases the risk of populations contracting cholera,” it is stated

The organisation said weaknesses in water and sanitation services were further compounded by the country’s poor health delivery system, which is characterised by an acute shortage of essential drugs, equipment and inadequate medical staff.

“Although the health system has improved since the onset of the outbreak, with more services being available and accessible, it still needs further strengthening. In addi-tion, despite an improvement in health information delivery, including the weekly rapid disease notification system, many health facilities still lack quick and easy access to communication equipment for reporting,” the OCHA said.

Given this scenario, the UN agency said, the humanitarian community´s focus was on preventing another large-scale cholera outbreak, which saw the epidemic spilling over into South Africa and other neighbouring countries in the region. In South Africa, Limpopo was the worst affected province, largely due to an influx of Zimbabwean patients who continued to cross the border to seek treatment in Musina and other hospitals in the province.