HARARE – Zimbabwean health authorities on Friday reported five cases of cholera and 27 cases of influenza A H1N1 or swine flu in the southern African nation where health facilities have collapsed after a decade of economic recession.

Ministry of Health director of communicable diseases Portia Munangazira said efforts were underway to combat diseases but conceded that the country still lacked capacity to contain major outbreaks without outside help. 

“In terms of fighting future outbreaks we are still not quite there yet but we have started,” Munangazira told a press briefing in Harare.

Addressing the same briefing, health minister Henry Madzorera said that out of the 631 cases of swine flu that had been reported in the two provinces of Manicaland and Mashonaland East, 27 had since been confirmed.

He said the five cases of cholera were from the 29 cases that had been reported in Chipinge district in Manicaland several weeks ago.

Madzorera said Zimbabwe has to send samples to laboratories in neighbouring countries such as Zambia and South Africa for A H1N1 testing because the country’s labs do not meet World Health Organisation standards.?

But Madzorera also said Zimbabwe’s public health system, which before the collapse of the last decade was one of the best in Africa, was on the way to recovery.

He said: “The health system is no longer in ICU (intensive care unit) anymore. It is now up and about. It has recovered and is recovering everyday …. people are getting treatment and things are getting better.”

Most of Zimbabwe’s public hospitals began operating only seven months ago after formation of a coalition government by President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Premier Arthur Mutambara.

The power-sharing government has promised to rebuild Zimbabwe’s economy and to restore basic services such as health and education that had virtually collapsed after years of recession.

But the administration, which says it needs US$10 billion to revive the economy, could fail to deliver on its promise unless it is able to unlock financial support from Western governments that have remained reluctant to provide aid until they see evidence that Mugabe is committed to genuinely share power with Tsvangirai. – ZimOnline