Health and Childcare Minister, Dr Obadiah Moyo on Saturday said the government was winning the battle against the cholera outbreak that has so far killed 49 people from the more than 10 000 cases reported so far.
Speaking after receiving a consignment of goods and cash worth US200 000 from the Chinese Embassy in Harare, Moyo said compared to the initial stages when the epidemic broke out, there have been fewer cases recorded and meaningful progress was being realised.
“We are moving in the right direction. We are looking at what we call the epicurve which shows us which direction we are going.
“Initially, we had a pick of suspected cases rising and then with the interventions that came in and that we put in place we have the flattening of the curve and the interventions have caused a total reduction to close to zero.
“Also, the numbers of suspected cases which are coming through are very very limited,” said Dr Moyo.
He noted that government was now concentrating on aggressive treatment of cases which have been confirmed including those admitted at the cholera treatment centres.
“We want to make sure that they all survive, that’s our intention,” he added.
Since the beginning of the outbreak, the government has received donations worth more than US$40 million and is targeting US$64 million, according to Finance and Economic Minister, Prof Mthuli Ncube.
“Government has donated just over $15 Million of its own money into the cholera fight. Cooperates have chipped in as well. Now we are over $30 million in terms of donations in both cash and kind. We will furnish you with the full figure once we have done all our audits.
“Also we need to values, put a monetary value on the in-kind donations and then add them to the cash valuation. Now the total envelop we need is of the value of $64million,” he said.
The Chinese government says it will continue to support the Zimbabwean government in its fight against the epidemic.
“We are very concerned about the situation so we want to take action together and try to mobilize all the resources that we have and help in the fight against cholera.
“We hope that this donation will see a reduction in the numbers of cholera and we hope those people affected can recover. We can get rid of cholera and we will continue to monitor the situation.
“If the situation gets worse, of course, we don’t want it to get worse, but if it does, we will continue to offer our support and you will see more support from the Chinese people,” the Acting Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Zhao Baogang told 263Chat.
