Zimbabwe Capital Risks Cholera Outbreak, Human Rights Watch Warns

“Human Rights Watch on Tuesday warned that Zimbabwe’s capital Harare was at risk of repeating a cholera outbreak five years ago that killed over 4,200 people,” Agence France-Presse/France 24 reports (11/19). According to the group, “residents in Harare’s poorest townships have little access to clean piped water and often resort to drinking water from wells contaminated with feces,” the Associated Press writes (11/19). “In a report [titled] ‘Troubled Water: Burst Pipes, Contaminated Wells, and Open Defecation in Zimbabwe’s Capital,’ Human Rights Watch said residents face an increased threat from cholera, dysentery and similar diseases unless the water and sanitation situation was fixed,” according to VOA News (Mhofu, 11/19). “Residents must often drink from shallow, unprotected wells befouled by sewage, according to the report, which was based on research conducted over the last two years,” the New York Times adds (Gladstone, 11/19). “The government should take a number of steps to improve Harare’s water and sanitation crisis, including investing in low-cost sanitation and water strategies,” Human Rights Watch states in an article on its website (11/19).

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