JOHANNESBURG, 26 February 2009 (IRIN): Zimbabwe will gladly receive any and all humanitarian assistance, but with a cholera epidemic expanding rapidly into rural areas and millions still food insecure, much more will be needed for months to come, a United Nations inter-agency mission to the country concluded.
-From what we have heard from members of the international community, and seen from our visits to several areas in the field, it is obvious that humanitarian needs in the country remain grave, Catherine Bragg, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, who led the mission’s five-day visit to Zimbabwe, said in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The mission met with President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, and a number of cabinet ministers. -We were given assurances of full cooperation. We spoke of having further engagements as we widened the scope of our cooperation, Bragg said.
According to Daniel Lopez Acuna, Director of Recovery and Transition Programmes at the World Health Organization (WHO), the cumulative number of cholera cases as at 25 February was 83.265, with 3.877 deaths.
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