At the outset of the cholera epidemic in 2008, many international donor and aid agencies mobilized to provide basic necessities for treating patients and stemming the epidemic. Since by this time much of the infrastructure of Zimbabwe had collapsed, including the healthcare delivery system, donors stepped in to provide critical services. These included supplying medications to clinics, providing households with buckets and soap, and drilling boreholes in high-density suburbs where water was especially scarce. In total, donor agencies drilled over 200 boreholes, providing people with potable water access at that time.