Zimbabwe: 5 Million people starving. Health system has collapsed by AllAfrica / UN News / Radio Africa 9:20am 19th Dec, 2008   Dec 2008    Four independent United Nations human rights experts today called on the Government of Zimbabwe and the international community to do more to rebuild the country"s health system, end the worst cholera epidemic ever recorded there and ensure adequate food for all people as millions face hunger.    "Zimbabwe"s health system has completely collapsed - it cannot control the cholera outbreak which is spreading throughout the country, with a daily increase in the death toll," the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, Anand Grover, said of the epidemic which has already infected 20,000 people, killing over 1,100.    "New cholera cases are being reported with no medical system or staff with the capacity to contain the epidemic," he added.    The experts, whose comments ranged over a wide range of issues from lack of clean water and food to the unjustified use of force by the authorities and civil rights abuses, expressed particular concern about the closure of the main public hospitals due to lack of medical supplies and health professionals.    They also highlighted the shortage of anti-retroviral therapies and essential medicines to treat acute diseases, stressing that the participation of communities was crucial for the development and implementation of plans to rebuild the failing health system and warning that the situation was becoming disastrous and was likely to deteriorate as the rainy season approached.    "There is no access to clean water sources and the country is faced with poor sanitation and meagre waste disposal and management infrastructure, greatly exacerbating the incidence of the disease," the Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, said, noting that unsafe drinking water is also contributing to severe malnutrition.    The Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, warned there was just not enough food at the national or household level. "An estimated 5.5 million people may need food assistance. Food and agricultural production have decreased drastically. With rising unemployment, and hyperinflation due to several years of economic instability, people have been suffering for too long in Zimbabwe; their right to adequate food has to be fulfilled now."    Ongoing violations of civil and political rights make it harder for the authorities and the people of Zimbabwe to unite and cooperate with the international community to tackle the humanitarian crisis, the experts stressed.    "The crisis is compounded by the use of unjustified force by the authorities in response to peaceful demonstrations and the recent abductions of human rights defenders," the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, said.    The Rapporteurs, who are independent unpaid experts reporting to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, noted that Zimbabwe had one of the best public health systems in sub-Saharan Africa, and was considered its "breadbasket."    "Stable systems for providing access to health, water, sanitation and food must be restored and respect for civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights assured," they added, reiterating their willingness to work with the Government and the international community to find urgent solutions to these problems.    22 December 2008    Zimbabwe: Death Toll from Humanitarian Disaster reaches Genocidal Levels, by Alex Bell. (Radio Africa )    Emergency appeals by international aid organisations to tackle the devastating humanitarian disaster in Zimbabwe have reached urgent levels, as the shocking and rising number of deaths in the country becomes clearer.    In a country ravaged by critical food shortages and a deadly cholera outbreak, it has been almost impossible to keep track of the untold thousands of people dying from hunger and disease. Official figures given by the United Nations claim that the deaths from cholera alone have reached more than a 1000, but combined with the very real threat of starvation, Zimbabwe"s death toll from the humanitarian disaster is reaching genocidal proportions.    The unofficial cholera death toll was speculated to have reached well beyond the 3000 mark by last month and the figure is said to be rising daily. Relief agencies were last week still struggling to contain the devastating outbreak in Chegutu, which has so far claimed at least 160 lives in less than two weeks, while the Daily Mail in the UK this weekend reported that gravediggers at one cemetery in Harare alone were burying 31 child cholera victims every week.    At the same time, up to 5 million people are said to be already starving, amid more speculation that between 15 and 20 thousand people are dying from starvation and hunger related diseases a month. A recent media report quoted a nurse from the Beatrice Infectious Diseases Hospital, who said an average of 13 people a day die there, with the nurse explaining that most patients had clear signs of malnutrition.    The death toll from cholera and hunger does not include those Zimbabweans whose lives have been cut short by HIV/AIDS, a crisis that the UN Children"s Fund (UNICEF) has said claims more than 400 adult lives every day.    Meanwhile, illnesses that are simple to treat in a functioning society have now become life threatening, as Zimbabwe"s health system has completely collapsed. A handful of clinics are now said to be servicing an entire nation that needs medical treatment, after the majority of hospitals and clinics in the country were closed recently due to a lack of staff and supplies. The situation means thousands more people have been left dead and dying, from ordinary, treatable illnesses.    Robert Mugabe"s government has made concerted efforts to keep the figures under close guard, but with more than half the population under real threat, it is becoming daily more clear that urgent intervention is needed to stop the senseless loss of life.    Oxfam, the Red Cross and now UNICEF are the latest aid groups issuing emergency appeals to tackle the crisis at a human level.
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