The cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe is all over the news right now. (It has been declared a national emergency after claiming more than 600 hundred lives and infecting 14,000.)

This morning I was listening to coverage of the outbreak on NPR and I started getting pretty bummed out. You know that feeling when you’re hearing about tragedy on the other side of the globe and you feel like there’s nothing you can do about it? Yeah.

And then I opened my inbox. 

And guess what I saw? News from our colleagues at the ICRC that they had just sent two health specialists and 13 tons of medical supplies to Harare, Zimbabwe. I smiled. Of course, the Red Cross is on the job.  

This doesn’t mean the problem is over by any means. But it does give me hope to know what our fellow Red Crossers are doing to help.

From the official ICRC news release: 

The arrival of the two specialists follows the delivery of 13 tonnes of medical supplies to the ICRC in Harare last week. The shipment included a complete cholera kit weighing over six tonnes and containing about 4,000 litres of rehydration fluids, oral rehydration salts, infusion sets, antibiotics, needles, gloves and other medical supplies. The items will be distributed in the coming days to health-care centres.

The ICRC is coordinating its response to the cholera outbreak with partners within the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and other humanitarian organizations with a view to ensuring a concerted and effective response.