Zimbabwe has set up a crowdfunding campaign to help its emergency response to a cholera outbreak, which has killed around 25 people.

Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube tweeted about the initiative on Thursday, providing the mobile payment account number of the finance ministry.

The waterborne disease was first detected last week in a township outside the capital, Harare, and is now spreading rapidly in the city, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned.

"There are now 3,766 cases. The number of deaths is now 25," Health Minister Obadiah Moyo told journalists on Thursday, AFP news agency reports.

The decision to crowdfund has been met with a mixed response on Twitter.