Zimbabwe cholera outbreak spreads to South Africa

Updated 3 hours 43 minutes ago

Outbreak: A man pushes his relative in a wheelbarrow to a Cholera Polyclinic in Harare (AFP: Desmond Kwande)

South African health officials have admitted that the cholera outbreak in neighbouring Zimbabwe has spread across the border.

At least six people are known to have died from cholera in South Africa in the past few days. All are believed to have been Zimbabwean.

Thousands of people have been fleeing across the Zimbabwe border as the cholera epidemic grows, and South African health officials are doing their best to contain the disease.

However they have admitted that cholera has been found in the Limpopo River, which runs along the border with Zimbabwe and is an important source of water for the locals.

At least 40 South Africans have contracted the waterborne disease.

Spreading quickly

Humanitarian groups are warning that the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe is spreading quickly and the government is powerless to stop it.

At least 500 people have died from the disease in recent months and the World Health Organisation says more than 11,000 are infected.

Basic sanitation services in Zimbabwe have broken down and hospitals do not have the resources to treat people.

Rachel Pounds from the British charity Save the Children says this year is much worse than previous years.

"Cholera is endemic in Zimbabwe. We have it every year, and the last few years they've been able to manage," she said.

"But this year, they just haven't been able to manage and they really require more support from the UN agencies and NGOs like Save the Children."

Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith says Australia is becoming increasingly concerned about the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe.

"It is of increasing and depressing concern, the stalemate in Zimbabwe, which is seeing a terrible humanitarian position emerge," he said.