The United Nations agency said nearly 800 deaths have been reported in the country since August, while the number of suspected cases has risen to over 15,000. In a worst-case scenario, up to 60,000 people could become infected, the WHO warned on Tuesday.
A WHO delegation, headed by Eric Laroche, assistant director general for the agency's Health Action in Crises cluster, arrived in the Southern African country at the weekend in response to the outbreak of the rapidly fatal illness, the UN said on its website.
At the meeting hosted by the organization, Laroche called for the "creation of a strong control and command structure to lead the containment and response to the outbreak, as well as to coordinate the efforts of health providers in Zimbabwe," the UN said.
In Zimbabwe, which has in recent years become a focus of international concern over widespread human rights violations, some 80% of people lack access to safe and clean water, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.
UNICEF warned that the outbreak of cholera, which is spread by drinking contaminated water, could "get even worse due to a deteriorating sanitation system."
