The Sunday Mail
A woman hurriedly disembarks from a commuter omnibus that is on its way to the city centre from Glen View, Harare.
As soon as she enters Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases Hospital, a man clothed in white gumboots, ankle-length apron, yellow protective headwear and surgical gloves appears and orders her to wash her hands.
The man proceeds to spray the woman’s shoes, an elaborate exercise which leaves a whitish haze in its wake.
Caroline Nyika (31) has to be sanitised before she enters the premises, she is told.
A few others leaving the premises go through the same process.
After going through this ritual, she looks around, apparently lost, as she is unfamiliar with the hospital.
A man in the same gear as the one who stopped her at the gate steps up to help.
Walking in the direction given, which is to a ward housing cholera patients, she realises she is not alone. Scores of other people are going in the same direction.
By late yesterday, more than 5 045 people had been diagnosed with cholera, a water-borne bacterial disease that causes severe vomiting and diarrhoea.
So far, the disease has claimed 28 lives.
In an interview later in the afternoon, a distraught Caroline tells The Sunday Mail of her ordeal.
“It has been a painful day,” she says, as she tries to put on a brave face. “However, Patrick (her husband) is lucky to be alive and we are grateful.
“The past two weeks have not been easy for Glen View residents. Just yesterday, we buried one of our neighbours at Granville Cemetery after he succumbed to cholera.
“The most painful thing of this disease, it tends to claim its victims in a short space of time. If one is not quickly attended to or given enough healthcare, a cholera victim dies within two days of contracting the disease.
“There is no body-viewing and that hurts. So, I know what is like and I was hoping and praying for my family’s safety.
“However, here I am. I have left children in the care of a neighbour, which is worrying. I do not know what they are being fed or what they are doing.”
Caroline, her husband and their two children stay in Glen View 3, an epicentre of the outbreak. Budiriro suburb has been similarly affected.
Government has closed Glen View 5 Primary School, and police have banned public gatherings. Food vending in the capital has also been suspended.
Authorities say the latest cholera outbreak was caused by burst sewer pipes, which contaminated water sources.
Without potable water, and unsure of the quality of what comes out of taps when the City of Harare does supply water, many residents have turned to boreholes.
The latest disease outbreak is an annual explosion in Harare, the only difference being the number of deaths this year.
And health experts say the present cholera strain is resistant to the first line of antibiotics — Ciprofloxacin and Ceftriaxone — and second-line drugs, mainly Azithromycin, are now being used.
Most high-density suburbs, home to a disproportionately huge population, are plagued by erratic water supplies, numerous sewer blockages and spillages from decrepit infrastructure. Uncollected refuse and heaped garbage piles have also become the order of the day.
Conducive conditions for diseases such cholera, typhoid and dysentery thrive.
And residents have blasted the city for being reactive rather than proactive.
“We are tired of council only reacting during times like these,” Harare Combined Residents Association director Mr Simbarashe Moyo said. “What took them so long to act on the dilapidated water and sewer infrastructure?
“Red flags had been raised and they did nothing, we all know it is only a matter of time before the council diverts attention to other issues. Harare needs to put its house in order.”
The Environmental Management Agency says 76 percent of cases of diarrhoeal diseases originate in Harare.
A 2014 EMA survey said Harare was the major polluter of drinking water by discharging raw sewage.
At the end of the day, residents like Caroline and thousands others pay the price.
As the sun begins to set, Caroline checks on her husband again. Her hope, like everyone else at the hospital and across Zimbabwe, is that Medieval diseases like cholera can truly be consigned to history.
