Zimbabwe is struck with an outbreak of Cholera. 20 people have died so far and over 2,000 people have been infected with this bacterial disease. This disease can be contracted by eating or drinking contaminated food and water. Health minister Obadiah Moyo suggested the the sewers contaminated drinking wells and boreholes. Since Robert Mugabe who is the president of Zimbabwe has overlooked the weak infrastructure of his country, this led to the contaminated water and caused the outbreak of Cholera. “We are declaring an emergency for Harare. This will enable us to contain cholera, typhoid and whatever is going on. We don’t want any further deaths,” stated Moyo.
Cholera poses a major threat to countries because it can be spread so easily, however, this waterborne disease poses the biggest threat of infecting people in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2017 more than 150,000 cholera cases were reported along with 3,000 deaths in 17 countries in Africa. 2018 has seen a major increase of reported cholera cases all over Africa. Most sub-Saharan countries are battling with sudden outbreaks of cholera. Several schools have been closed due to this sudden incident. This shows that the leaders of ZImbabwe are trying to prevent spreading of the the disease and don’t want children getting it. Coincidentally, this current outbreak is just short of a month after health ministers in Africa have pledged to end Cholera in their region by 2030. The outbreak could set them back from their goal as they need to make their environment more safe to their people so this cannot spread any further and they can focus to fix other issues that may come their way in the future. Since Africa consists of third world countries, it can become very challenging to prevent these diseases from spreading and also when they don’t have the money to improve their sewers and keep them from failing. However, with help from organizations such as Red Cross, that could help improve Africa’s overall well-being in regards to containing deadly diseases and bacterial infections to help make Africa a safer environment.