A devastating cholera outbreak has killed 589 people with 14,000 more in Zimbabwe infected as drastic shortages of medicines and supplies have closed hospitals in Harare, the capital. The World Health Organization is now estimating that cholera could affect 60,000 Zimbabweans. Direct Relief International has airlifted humanitarian medical aid and is following up with ocean shipments in response to this crisis.

Requested medicines and supplies valued at more than $1.3 million (wholesale) have been sent to trusted partners in Zimbabwe: Harare Central Hospital, Island Hospice, Seke Rural Hospice, and United Methodist Church Health Systems. Contents include antibiotics, IV fluids and drip sets, wound-care materials, and other critically needed medical supplies.

An airlift of almost $430,000 (wholesale) in supplies and medicines will provide Harare Central Hospital medical personnel with the materials they need to resume treating patients. The second wave of aid includes an ocean container carrying almost 31,680 IV sets and other medical supplies. Cholera causes life-threatening diarrhea and can be treated with antibiotics. A lack of clean water and broken sanitation systems exacerbates the spread of the disease, which thrives in contaminated water.

A donation of antibiotics valued at $256,663 (wholesale) has been airlifted directly to our Hospice partners in Zimbabwe from the United Kingdom donor's facilities to expedite delivery, with a second valued at $418,568 sent from Direct Relief's inventory. Direct Relief has supported hospices in Zimbabwe since 2006. Island Hospice and Seke Rural Hospice care for terminally ill patients in and around Harare. Their programs include training for volunteers who provide home-based care to thousands of patients who are too sick or too poor to visit the hospital. United Methodist Church Health Systems, a member of our longtime affiliate the Foundation for Hospices in Sub-Saharan Africa, operates 15 health facilities in remote regions of Zimbabwe. Thanks to these trusted relationships, logistics of delivering medical aid can be carefully managed.

Medicines are out of reach of most people in Zimbabwe, which now has the world's highest inflation at a whopping 231 million percent. Ongoing civil strife, broken sanitation systems, a drastic lack of clean water, and an economic collapse have combined to devastating effect.

Stocks of medicines and supplies are so depleted and salaries are so low that doctors, nurses, and hospital staff have gone on strike in protest. Hyperinflation is so high that nurses can't afford transportation to work.

Once considered the breadbasket of Africa, Zimbabwe is now suffering a major food shortage, and 45 percent of its population is malnourished. Life expectancy is about 43 years; it has one of the world's highest rates of HIV/AIDS infection. Direct Relief has provided critical antiretroviral therapy drugs for HIV/AIDS patients in Zimbabwe since 2007.

Direct Relief continues to monitor the health situation in Zimbabwe and is directing emergency response efforts based on partner needs and requests for specific medicines and materials.

About Direct Relief International Founded in 1948, Direct Relief International is a Santa Barbara-based nonprofit organization focused on improving the quality of life by bringing critically needed medicines and supplies to local healthcare providers worldwide. Direct Relief works in 59 countries and has delivered more than $1 billion in privately funded humanitarian medical aid to health professionals serving impoverished communities since 2000. Direct Relief is one of two charities ranked by Forbes that has received a perfect fundraising efficiency score for seven consecutive years and is ranked by the Chronicle of Philanthropy as California's largest international nonprofit organization based on private support. For more information: www.DirectRelief.org. ###