HARARE , Zimbabwe ( CNN ) -- Deaths in Zimbabwe related to the cholera epidemic are approaching 2,000 , the World Health Organization said Tuesday , and close to 40,000 people have been affected by the preventable water-borne disease . Two men rest in a cholera rehydration tent on the South Africa-Zimbabwe border in December . Statistics released by the Geneva , Switzerland-based organization WHO on Tuesday show 1,937 people have died in the raging epidemic from the 38,334 who contracted the disease since its outbreak in August . Cholera has spread to neighboring countries South Africa and Botswana . The epidemic comes at a time when President Robert Mugabe 's government is facing its worst economic crisis , manifested in shortages of all essentials from food , fuel , cash , foreign currency and electricity and a hyperinflationary economy . Health experts have said Harare 's failure to import adequate stocks of water-treating chemicals is the main driver of the disease . Most residents have resorted to rivers and shallow wells for drinking water , because taps are usually dry . On top of that problem , the waste-disposing system has collapsed . Children can be seen playing on heaps of uncollected garbage in the suburbs of most urban areas in Zimbabwe . Last month , Mugabe 's government declared the cholera epidemic a national emergency . Since then , international governments and organizations such as WHO , Doctors Without Borders , Oxfam , USAID and other U.N. groups have moved in to combat the disease that has engulfed all of Zimbabwe 's provinces . But the situation has not immediately improved . Zimbabwean Health Minister David Parirenyatwa warned this month that the epidemic could get worse as the rainy season develops . Harare issued a warning Monday that some parts of the country are going to experience floods during rainy season , further compounding the fight against the disease . The season peaks in January or February and ends in late March . Mugabe and rival Morgan Tsvangirai signed a power-sharing deal in September to run the government after a hotly contested presidential election . It was widely hoped that the deal would be the panacea to the humanitarian and economic problems bewildering the once-prosperous Zimbabwe , but the pact is yet to take effect . The sides continue to debate the sharing of key Cabinet ministries such as information , local government , finance , defense and home affairs .
Cholera says Two people have died since outbreak in August . Cholera epidemic comes as South Africa faces worst economic crisis . Expert : Failure to import adequate stocks of water-treating chemicals behind disease . World Health Organization has spread to neighboring countries Zimbabwe and Botswana .