CERF provides $3 million for Zimbabwe cholera response

A baby cries as he receives a vaccine injection at a mobile outreach point in [Photo: UNICEF]

15 June 2011:  More than $3 million was provided from the CERF in June to respond to a cholera outbreak that threatened the lives of more than four million people in Zimbabwe.

Cholera has infected nearly 100,000 people in the Southern African country since 2008, claiming more than 4,000 lives. Lack of investment in water service delivery during the past decade in Zimbabwe has limited safe water supplies country-wide, putting many of the population at high risk of infection from cholera and other water-borne diseases.

The $3 million provided by the CERF enabled the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to provide chemicals to treat water for four million people, including more than half a million children under five. The CERF also allowed UNICEF to provide non-food items to prevent cholera (including water purification tablets, soap and water containers) for a further 40,000 people in particularly high-risk areas.
 

Updated 25 July 2011

CERF allocates $1 million in response to storm damage in Zimbabwe

Women outside of her temporary home and dried up maize crop [Photo: IRIN]

31 March 2011: In response to the need for emergency rehabilitation support for schools affected by storms, CERF has allocated some $1 million for humanitarian response in Zimbabwe. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) will use this allocation to provide emergency repair of classrooms and latrines, as well as stock materials for schools to main repair work done in the future. This project will have a long-term, positive effect on the community infrastructure critical to investing in education for children.

School assessments conducted by Ministry personnel in Zimbabwe indicate that there is an urgent need for school rehabilitation assistance. In many cases, children are now attending school in the open, and many children are forced to walk long distances to schools that have been less affected by the storms. With parts of schools closed, children are learning in cramped and unhealthy school environments. Sanitation facilities are becoming a public health concern, and many girls are dropping out of school because they do not have the privacy of separate sanitation areas.

Apart from repairing and expanding physical infrastructure, school heads and school development committees (SDC) have requested support for child protection and essential life-saving skills training for all school staff and students. This programme is mean to provide training for the 70 schools that are selected for this emergency rehabilitation project.

School heads and SDCs have stated that communities will be willing to contribute voluntary labour and, where possible, expertise to maximize the resources. This has been demonstrated by their already active involvement with minor repair work, and more resources will give much needed support to their initiatives.

[Last updated: 05 May 2011] 

CERF allocates $5 million in response to the severe hunger period in Zimbabwe 

11 March 2011: In response to high rates of food insecurity triggered by inadequate harvests and protracted drought, CERF has allocated $5 million for humanitarian response in Zimbabwe.

Some $2 million has been allocated to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to implement a joint program that will deliver life-saving care for children with severe acute malnutrition and therapeutic care for those who are moderately malnourished. UNICEF will receive $1.3 million for provision of emergency water, sanitation and hygiene assistance to vulnerable populations in cholera-affected areas. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will use $900,000 to strengthen emergency obstetric care for women and children. $500,000 has been allocated to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and IOM to provide multi-sector protection and assistance for migrants and refugees. Finally, IOM will receive $300,000 to restore essential emergency and basic livelihoods for vulnerable populations in areas prone to flood and drought.

Over the recent years, economic instability and floods have destroyed agro-ecological livelihoods, resulting in serious humanitarian needs. Although Zimbabwe has gradually stabilized economically and politically, protracted inadequate harvest and lack of farming inputs have resulted in a severe hunger period from January to March 2011. An estimated 1.7 million Zimbabweans are severely food insecure and 72,000 Zimbabwean children will develop moderate acute malnutrition in 2011. Particularly disconcerting is the large disparity in rates of malnutrition between districts, socioeconomic groups, and boys and girls. Today, one in three Zimbabwean children has stunted growth: a major obstacle to child survival and development.

One-third of the rural population drinks from unprotected water sources. Whereas the scale of cholera has been significantly reduced, localized outbreaks continue due to poor water, sanitation and hygiene facilities. During the severe cholera outbreak period from August 2008 to December 2009, maternal and perinatal mortality (MMR) was estimated to be twice as high as the global rate and 50 per cent higher than the rate in eastern and southern Africa. Treatment of the main causes of direct obstetric death remains a concern and successful prevention would reduce maternal deaths by nearly half.

Zimbabwe also requires assistance for IDPs and refugees, trafficked persons and migrants who travel through and to Zimbabwe when fleeing conflict, human rights abuses and economic challenges in other countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and Ethiopia.

[Last updated: 5 April 2011] 

CERF in Zimbabwe 2010
CERF in Zimbabwe 2009
CERF in Zimbabwe 2008
CERF in Zimbabwe 2007
CERF in Zimbabwe 2006