Manicaland is a province in eastern Zimbabwe. After Harare Province, it is the country's second-most populous province, with a population of 2.037 million, as of the 2022 census. After Harare and Bulawayo provinces, it is Zimbabwe's third-most densely populated province. Manicaland was one of five original provinces established in Southern Rhodesia in the early colonial period. The province endowed with country's major tourist attractions, the likes of Mutarazi Falls, Nyanga National Park and Zimbabwe's top three highest peaks. The province is divided into ten administrative subdivisions of seven rural districts and three towns/councils, including the provincial capital, Mutare. The name Manicaland is derived from one of the province's largest ethnic groups, the Manyika, who originate from the area north of the Manicaland province and as well as western Mozambique, who speak a distinct language called ChiManyika in Shona.
Buhera District is a district in Manicaland Province, Zimbabwe.
General elections were held in March 1990. In July the government lifted the 25-year-old state of emergency. Zimbabwe became a republic on 17 April 1991. In November 1992 the first cases of a cholera epidemic were reported from within the Tongogara Refugee Camp in Manicaland. In March 1993, the Zimbabwe national rugby union team scored an upset win over the France national rugby union team, with Zimbabwe winning 28-3. The event was widely celebrated in Zimbabwe, but was also controversial due to the fact that all but one member of Zimbabwe's team were White. In June 1993 the government announced plans to downsize the 50,000-strong Zimbabwe National Army by 10,000 men over the next five years. The combined Zimbabwe Defense Forces Headquarters was formed in July 1994. In April 1995 parliamentary elections were held. The Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) ran unopposed in 54 of the 120 electoral districts and a further 20 parliamentary seats were reserved. Zimbabwe sent delegates to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada to discuss land mines and launch the Ottawa Treaty in October 1996. The government unilaterally banned anti-personnel mines on 15 May 1997, signing Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December. The government ratified the treaty on 18 June 1998. A court sentenced Canaan Banana, Methodist minister, theologian, and the former President of Zimbabwe to ten years imprisonment, nine years suspended for sodomy, on 18 January 1999. Major mine clearance operations started in three of Zimbabwe's seven, identified, contaminated areas in March.
The 2008 Zimbabwean cholera outbreak was an epidemic of cholera affecting much of Zimbabwe from August 2008 until June 2009. The outbreak began in Chitungwiza in Harare Metropolitan Province in August 2008, then spread throughout the country so that by December 2008, cases were being reported in all 10 provinces. In December 2008, The Zimbabwean government declared the outbreak a national emergency and requested international aid. The outbreak peaked in January 2009 with 8,500 cases reported per week. Cholera cases from this outbreak were also reported in neighboring countries South Africa, Malawi, Botswana, Mozambique, and Zambia. With the help of international agencies, the outbreak was controlled, and by July 2009, after no cases had been reported for several weeks, the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Welfare declared the outbreak over. In total, 98,596 cases of cholera and 4,369 deaths were reported, making this the largest outbreak of cholera ever recorded in Zimbabwe. The large scale and severity of the outbreak has been attributed to poor sanitation, limited access to healthcare, and insufficient healthcare infrastructure throughout Zimbabwe.
Seven cholera pandemics have occurred in the past 200 years, with the first pandemic originating in India in 1817. The seventh cholera pandemic is officially a current pandemic and has been ongoing since 1961, according to a World Health Organization factsheet in March 2022. Additionally, there have been many documented major local cholera outbreaks, such as a 1991–1994 outbreak in South America and, more recently, the 2016–2021 Yemen cholera outbreak.
As of 24 September 2012, a cholera outbreak in Sierra Leone had caused the deaths of 392 people. It was the country's largest outbreak of cholera since first reported in 1970 and the deadliest since the 1994–1995 cholera outbreak. The outbreak has also affected Guinea, which shares a reservoir near the coast. This was the largest cholera outbreak in Africa in 2012.
Zimbabwe was once a model functional healthcare system in post colonial Africa, boasting a strong primary healthcare system and skilled healthcare workers under the Mugabe administration. In 2008, Zimbabwe had a 76.9 billion percent inflation rate and this worsened the state of the healthcare system which has not recovered today and is relying mostly on donor funding to keep running.
An outbreak of cholera began in Yemen in October 2016. The outbreak peaked in 2017 with over 2,000 reported deaths in that year alone. In 2017 and 2019, war-torn Yemen accounted for 84% and 93% of all cholera cases in the world, with children constituting the majority of reported cases. As of November 2021, there have been more than 2.5 million cases reported, and more than 4,000 people have died in the Yemen cholera outbreak, which the United Nations deemed the worst humanitarian crisis in the world at that time. However, the outbreak has substantially decreased by 2021, with a successful vaccination program implemented and only 5,676 suspected cases with two deaths reported between January 1 and March 6 of 2021.
The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have spread to Africa on 14 February 2020, with the first confirmed case announced in Egypt. The first confirmed case in sub-Saharan Africa was announced in Nigeria at the end of February 2020. Within three months, the virus had spread throughout the continent, as Lesotho, the last African sovereign state to have remained free of the virus, reported a case on 13 May 2020. By 26 May, it appeared that most African countries were experiencing community transmission, although testing capacity was limited. Most of the identified imported cases arrived from Europe and the United States rather than from China where the virus originated.
The COVID-19 pandemic in North Korea is part of an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). North Korea confirmed its first case on 8 May 2022.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Samoa is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached Samoa on 18 November 2020. The country reported its second case on 27 November.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Guinea-Bissau is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached Guinea-Bissau in March 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Zimbabwe is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 .The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached Zimbabwe in March 2020. Some of Zimbabwe's provinces, especially Manicaland, Masvingo and Mashonaland East, also struggled with a malaria outbreak at the same time. Though malaria is treatable, the healthcare system faces drug shortages and increased strain with the spread of COVID-19.
The first confirmed case relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in Yemen was announced on 10 April 2020 with an occurrence in Hadhramaut. Organizations called the news a "devastating blow" and a "nightmare scenario" given the country's already dire humanitarian situation.
The 2018–2019 Zimbabwe cholera outbreak began on 1 September 2018, and the last reported case occurred on 12 March 2019. The Zimbabwean government declared a national emergency on 6 September 2018. The cholera outbreak originated in Glenview, a suburb in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital city, and then spread to the following provinces in Zimbabwe: Manicaland, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Bulawayo, Mashonaland Central, Midlands, Masvingo and Matebeleland South. The last report from the World Health Organization (WHO) Afro regional office has listed the outbreak as a closed event with the outbreak running from 6 September 2018 to 12 March 2019. They were a total of 10,730 suspected cases however the confirmed cases were only 371.
John Mudiwa Washe Makumbe, often published as John Mw Makumbe, was a Zimbabwean political scientist, political philosopher and activist. He was a professor at the University of Zimbabwe for more than 25 years, and a frequent guest lecturer at Michigan State University. He was a pro-democracy opinion columnist and member of civil society organisations critical of Robert Mugabe and the ZANU–PF, as well as an activist for the welfare of albino people in Zimbabwe. Shortly before his death he became a prominent member of the Movement for Democratic Change, and he was expected to enter politics by contesting the Buhera West parliamentary constituency.
In October 2022, an outbreak of cholera began in Lebanon. It is likely the result of a serious outbreak in neighboring Syria, which is itself traced back to contaminated water in the Euphrates.
Events of 2023 in Zimbabwe.
The 2023–2024 Zambian cholera outbreak is currently one of the most severe health crises in the country's recent history, with its origins traced back to January 2023. The outbreak initially surfaced in Vubwi District in the Eastern Province and Mwansabombwe District in Luapula Province. By October 2023, the Zambia National Public Health Institute reported a cholera outbreak in the capital, Lusaka. Cholera cases have so far broken out in 15 districts in five out of the country’s 10 provinces, with Lusaka, the country’s capital recording the highest number of cases. Of particular concern is the rapid progression of the outbreak within Lusaka, where, within a week, the Ministry of Health reported a surge of 71.2% in cases and a staggering 175% increase in fatalities.
The 2022–2024 Southern Africa cholera outbreak is an outbreak that has spread across Southern Africa. It started in Machinga District in Malawi in March 2022. The cholera outbreak in Malawi linked to cases in South Africa, the strains belong to the seventh cholera pandemic. Rather than being a resurgence of a previously circulating strain in Africa, these cases likely resulted from the introduction of a new cholera agent from South Asia into Africa.
