Cholera = preventable, water-related disease

You may have seen on the news that there is an ongoing cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe. Now it has spread beyond Zimbabwe's borders to South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, and Swaziland. So far more than 70,000 people have been infected, and more than 3,000 have died since last August.

So, what is cholera anyway? Since you asked, here is what the World Health Organization has to say:

"Cholera is an acute intestinal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. It has a short incubation period, from less than one day to five days, and produces an enterotoxin that causes a copious, painless, watery diarrhoea that can quickly lead to severe dehydration and death if treatment is not promptly given."

One of the most common causes of cholera outbreaks is poor sanitation, for example, when floods cause waste from latrines to wash into people's drinking water. Thirst Relief and its partners are working with communities to ensure their drinking water remains uncontaminated by human waste.

Here are some recent photos from the village of Kakula in the Kasempa region of Zambia. Thirst's partner repaired a well that had broken. Prior to receiving this help, the community had been forced to gather water from the unprotected spring pictured below. Imagine all the ways this open hole in the ground could be contaminated:
Here is a picture of the repaired well, its first gush of water pouring forth after the repair. Technicians follow up their repairs by testing the water to ensure it is safe for consumption.

Awesome, right?