Blog #12: Zimbabwe's Health Crisis

Health officials report more than 200 cases of typhoid in Zimbabwe's capital

When it comes to disease, many diseases that thrive off of contaminated water have a greater chance of infecting people due to the need of water. Recently, in the capital city of Zimbabwe, over 200 cases of Typhoid (also knows as Typhoid Fever) have been reported due to contaminated water in the area. Typhoid, a bacterial agent that infects the water supply, enters the digestive system and can cause severe intestinal bleeding, leading to death of parts of the intestinal tract. With the capital of Zimbabwe being a town with pluming and other methods of modern water supply, has been severely damaged and degraded due to the severe economic downturn and not being able to afford maintenance on the pipe system that lies beneath the city. Although most of the cases of Typhoid are in the capital city, there have also been cases reported on the outskirts of the city, leading officials to find that shallow well water has also been contaminated by the bacteria. Zimbabwe, at this time, has asked for humanitarian aid in order to stop the spread of Typhoid and to avoid more severe diseases, such as cholera, from infecting the water supply.

As we look at Zimbabwe and this case of Typhoid, there are a few social problems that come into question when dealing with this issue. The first issue we must look at is the epidemic hazard of Typhoid, a disease that is rapidly spread from person to person from ingesting contaminated water. With a largely contaminated water supply that is only getting worse, the contaminated water supply will only increase until something is done about it, infecting people exponentially until the problem is fixed. The second problem we have here is focused on the economic state of Zimbabwe and how they allowed for this to happen. With public sanitation workers being laid off and ultimately making public sanitation nonexistent, public health problems are going to overtake the city and eventually the country.

http://www.news-medical.net/news/20111117/Health-officials-report-more-than-200-cases-of-typhoid-in-Zimbabwes-capital.aspx