YouthGive is a nonprofit that teaches youth about how to give back. In the summer of 2008, a group of students from the US traveled to South Africa and Zambia to learn about the projects going on there. There they learned about malaria. Malaria is the #1 killer in Zambia.
From The New York Times --
While malnutrition takes the lives of many in Africa, survivors are left with little more. Malnutrition stunts physical and mental growth, causing children to be weak students and small in stature, sickly and weak in a nation that runs on manual labor. However, malnutrition can be defeated, and nations such as Ethiopia are working toward finding a solution that includes food and vitamin distribution to its people.
From IUCN --The International Union of the Conservation of Nature purports that many freshwater fish, crabs, dragonflies, molluscs and aquatic plants are at risk of extinction in southern Africa if its rivers and lakes are not soon protected from developers.
“ International Biodiversity Day, celebrated each year on May 22, pays tribute to the global importance of biodiversity, both as an asset for posterity and a vital resource for people and their livelihoods. ”
From Reuters --Three people have been infected with cholera following floods caused by weeks of heavy rain in southern Angola. The floods have left more than 33,000 people homeless. The three cases were detected in one of the poorest regions of the country.
“ The three cases were detected in the city of Ondjiva, the capital of Cunene. The landlocked province is one of Angola's poorest regions where the majority of the population rely on subsistence farming. ”
From BBC News --The World Health Organization says the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe appears to have peaked in the rural regions of the country. However, the WHO warns that the weekly statistics are often inaccurate. The deadliest outbreak of cholera in Africa in 15 years has spread to neighboring countries including South Africa.
“ "The risk of the outbreak restarting in those areas of the country is real," the WHO warned. ”
From VOA News -- Following World Water Day, the Zimbabwean Water and Sanitation Minister said Monday that he is determined to get safe drinking water to everyone in Zimbabwe.
“ The breakdown of municipal water systems under the management of the Zimbabwe National Water Authority was a major contributing factor in the deadly cholera epidemic which has claimed more than 4,000 lives in the country since it too hold in August 2008 ”
From IRIN News --A lack of understanding about cholera and its basic prevention as well as failure to adapt social customs has contributed to the spread of the disease in rural Zimbabwe. Cholera has cut a path across Zimbabwe, killing more than 4,000 people.
“ "We had just returned from the funeral of a relative who died in Harare when the three of us fell ill, suffering from diarrhoea. We had no reason to suspect it was cholera because we were not told the cause of the death of my relative," Mushayakarara told IRIN. ”
From VOA News --Zimbabwean officials say their national response to the cholera epidemic is having an effect. The number of cases reported weekly is down for the fourth straight week. So far more than 4,000 people have died from a cumulative total of almost 94,000.
“ Zimbabwean Minister of Science and Technology Heneri Dzinotyiwei, member of parliament for Budiriro, Harare, an early epicenter of the cholera epidemic still claiming lives in the country, said Monday that the national response is having a impact. ”
From News24.com -- The Ministry of Health in Mozambique has recorded 140 deaths from cholera since January as compared to 150 deaths for the whole of 2008 throughout the country.
“ These cases are linked with the rains that have been falling in almost the entire country, and the lack of habits of individual and collective hygiene. ”
From Travelwires.com -- According to the Zimbabwean Ministry of Health, Victoria Falls is still excluded from the districts affected and reporting cases of cholera. Zimbabwe is in the middle of a cholera epidemic and has been for many months, with more than 4,000 lives claimed.
“ Zimbabwe’s new unity government has prioritised cholera control and vowed to ensure every household in the country has affordable, safe, and accessible water which is required for health, safe sanitation and efficient waste disposal. ”
From Xinhua --One person has died so far in a cholera outbreak in southern Zambia. Six cases of cholera so far have been reported so far since the disease was first reported four days ago.
“ The disease broke out in Matinangala area, about three kilometers from the main Siavonga Township, ZANIS said. ”
