• 2010
• 2009
• 2008
• 2007
• 2006

Fears that under-five cholera deaths in Zimbabwe are going unrecorded

The real cholera death toll may be hidden by a lack of awareness and under-reporting of under-five deaths from the disease

Wednesday 14 January 2009

The number of people killed by cholera in Zimbabwe topped 2,000 on Tuesday, according to the UN. However, the children’s aid organisation suspects that many babies and young children — those most vulnerable to cholera — are dying without the disease being identified or recorded. 

Rachel Pounds, Save the Children’s country director in Zimbabwe, said:

“Save the Children believes that cholera may have become a silent killer of young children in Zimbabwe. The health system is now so bad here that under-fives frequently die from diarrhoea. Now we have a situation where babies are falling sick with watery diarrhoea, but parents don’t realise it’s cholera so don’t get treatment. Young children are the quickest to recover if they get proper care, but they are also the quickest to die if they do not.  

“This lack of awareness and reporting mean the cholera death toll could be significantly higher than official figures. More dangerously, it also could be helping to spread the disease. Funerals can be a breeding ground for cholera if bodies aren’t buried safely. If parents don’t know why their young babies have died, it’s likely they’re not protecting themselves and their other children properly, which means they too could become a cholera victim.” 

We're running a major emergency appeal for children in Zimbabwe. So far we've helped to treat over 60,000 cholera victims in Zimbabwe, including 37,000 children. We're also working to raise awareness of the disease among thousands more. However, more resources are needed in the face of the continuing crisis. 

Ms Pounds said: “We urgently need more money so we can do even more prevention to stop the cholera from spreading. In the face of potential flooding, everything has to be done to educate families how to stay safe. There’s a huge awareness-raising job still to do, particularly of the dangers facing young children, and we need to distribute more soap and water purification tablets before the infection rate can again increase.” 

What you can do

Make a donation to our emergency appeal in Zimbabwe, and help us to reach more children.

Find out more about our work in Zimbabwe.

What you can do