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For your own awareness, here's a quick update.
As of 29 December 2008, a total of 30,938 suspected cases and 1,551 deaths (WSJ claims 1,937 deaths) had been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO). The vast majority of the infections have occurred only since October, 2008. The numbers are only worsening: statistics from Monday, January 12 show that 1,472 new cases and 117 new deaths from Cholera were added to the totals in one day, alone.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention,
Cholera is an acute, diarrheal illness caused by infection of the intestine with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The infection is often mild or without symptoms, but sometimes it can be severe. Approximately one in 20 infected persons has severe disease characterized by profuse watery diarrhea, vomiting, and leg cramps. In these persons, rapid loss of body fluids leads to dehydration and shock. Without treatment, death can occur within hours.
In short, Cholera is not fun. Aside from the increasing amount of deaths in Zimbabwe, one of the most saddening things is that this disease can be easily prevented. There has not been a large outbreak of Cholera in the United States, for example, since 1911. The prevention of the disease solely requires proper sanitation and water treatment. Once contracted, the disease can be treated, too. The CDC claims,
"Cholera can be simply and successfully treated by immediate replacement of the fluid and salts lost through diarrhea. ...With prompt rehydration, fewer than 1% of cholera patients die. "
The numbers coming out of Zimbabwe are sickening. Too many people are suffering and dying, and too few are acting on this crisis. Barack Obama must follow through on his promises to assist in mobilizing international pressure for a just government in Zimbabwe, to provide sustainable debt relief, and to strengthen the African Growth and Opportunity Act** to increase private investment in African nations. In the meantime, help your citizens Mugabe.
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** Yes, I know the AGOA has its own problems, but it's a start.
2 comments:
Let's examine Cholera - Why is that more important than Darfur slaughters, Ethiopia hunger, Homelessness in our own country, and other world calamities? It sure does show how lucky we are to be living in the U.S. of A. At what point does the U.S. of A. stop sending money past our borders? We send money to Countries and people that hate us. Does that make sense? If we didn't send them money and humanitarian relief - Would the result be that they hate us more? Hmmm...
Quite a conundrum, indeed. I would suggest that hate does not breed from insufficient humanitarian efforts, but rather from an overly sufficient amount of ethnocentrism and political and military swagger. Well, I'll keep my political beliefs a bit more concealed, but, the truth remains... All of your aforementioned 'calamities' are deserving of proper attention and aid. It's hard to quantify or even qualify need, but the rate at which people are dying in Zimbabwe caused me to bring my attention to that first.
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