Health authorities in Zimbabwe admitted Monday they have failed to bring a cholera outbreak in the capital, Harare, which has claimed 3 7 lives, under control amid a rising death toll. The disease broke out three weeks ago in Harare, and health authorities have bee n battling to contain it. But city health director Stanley Mungofa admitted Monday the cholera outbreak in the city was getting worse and claiming more lives. He said at least 37 people had died of the disease, but “there could have been (more) communal deaths. The outbreak is widely blamed on consumption of unclean water, and has defied concerted efforts by health authorities in the last two weeks to contain it. A breakdown in the provision of clean water and administration of health service s in Harare, like elsewhere in Zimbabwe because of an economic crisis, is making it difficult to bring the cholera outbreak under control.
