Cholera In Zimbabwe (corrections from 1st draft paragraph for JMUN)

Cholera impact in Zimbabwe
Cholera is an infection caused by a bacterium that contaminates food and water. Once the person is ill he/she gets watery diarrhea, and gets dehydrated, and dies. One of the reasons Cholera happens, is because people do not have access either to clean drinking water or sanitation. Cholera happens in LEDC’s , because a big percentage of the population does not have access to clean water and sanitation and, therefore, the disease grows out of control and creates an epidemic. A clear example of this is Zimbabwe. In August 2008, the epidemic began and has been getting worse because of the political and economic crisis. Doctors and nurses have been on strike, or protesting without working, over the past 5 months because they want to get paid; water purification chemicals like chlorine are not available; water and sewer pipes are broken, sewer pipes bring dirty water to the towns and contributes the spread of the epidemic and creates other infections; garbage has not been collected; and water supply has not been constant. All of these things are caused because of the government has not been doing its work, either, it does not want to pay for the services or it does not contribute with the cleaning of water and garbage. All these factors have contributed to make this the worst Cholera epidemic ever; at present 60,401 people are infected with this bacterium, and 3,161 people have died from the disease since August 2008. During the rainy season, which goes from January to March, the disease may spread even more, because the bacterium can be carried into rivers and wells, causing further contamination.

Sources:

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/01/30/Zimbabwe.cholera.cases/index.html

http://www.who.int/topics/cholera/about/en/index.html