Harare typhoid outbreak induced by poor water and sanitation facilities- Masarira

A human rights activist Linda Masarira has blamed the out break of typhoid in Harare on the poor water and sanitation facilities by the Harare City Council.

"The typhoid and cholera outbreak in Harare was induced by poor water and sanitation facilities in Harare. Most primary school going children have never seen running water coming out of their taps for years. There are no jobs in Zimbabwe and about 6million Zimbabweans are vendors and that is their only source of income. Banning vendors is not the solution to curb typhoid and cholera outbreaks as they are going to continue Vending anyhow," she said.

"The government must ensure that water and sanitation crisis is resolved immediately before lives are lost by this looming typhoid outbreak.
Inasmuch as l feel the move to come up with an interministerial committee to deal with the typhoid outbreak is a welcome one, key health and sanitation issues need to be looked at e.g the improvement of water supply being one of the key pre requisites."

Masarira said the absence of clean running water in most suburbs contributes immensely to the upsurge of typhoid.

"Refuse collection needs to be stepped up as well. The issue of vendors is a tricky one in the sense that in as much as we need to ensure that they take sanitation issues seriously when selling their wares, it is equally important not to also infringe on their livelihoods since most people are in that sector," she said.

"Has it been proven that Typhoid is being spread by those things like fruits and veggies being sold on the street or it like the government is trying to hide behind a finger? The water problem in Harare is the main cause of the typhoid outbreak. Most people now use borehole water and we are in the rainy season, seepage of sewage water into the boreholes is the main cause of typhoid."

The activist said they should close all boreholes and provide people with safe water.

"The ban on vending of fruits is only a  temporary measure that doesn't deal with deep  structural challenges caused by city council incompetence and lack of coordination between Ministry of Local government , Ministry of Health and local authorities," she said.

"The quality of water the masses drink is terrible, check the toilet facilities in Central Harare( Copacabana) and the collection of garbage and other waste in towns. This outbreak is indicative of health hazards that the relevant authorities ignore on a daily basis."