EMBARGOED TO THE MEDIA UNTIL TUESDAY 18 NOVEMBER 2003, 1100 HRS NEW YORK TIME

Zimbabwe

CONSOLIDATED APPEAL

SUMMARY

AIDS, poverty, hunger

What began as a food crisis in Zimbabwe in 2002 has grown into a major humanitarian emergency, with people suffering the effects of a deteriorating economy, HIV/AIDS, depleted social services, and policy constraints.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is central to the crisis. Recent estimates indicate that around 34 per cent of Zimbabwe's 15-40 age group is infected, and more than 2,500 people die every week of AIDS-related causes.

The crisis affecting households has translated into escalating needs. But delivery of health, education, social and public services has been undermined by a lack of finance and the loss of human resources to emigration and AIDS. One result is that malaria, tuberculosis and cholera cases are on the rise.

Another result is that Zimbabweans face a severe food security crisis in 2003-04. An estimated 5.5 million people will require food aid during the coming year. The country has enough food to feed its population for just four to five months.

As the country enters its fifth successive year of economic decline, Zimbabwe faces critical shortages of foreign exchange to maintain essential infrastructure and inflation has soared.

Preventing mortality

The Consolidated Appeal for Zimbabwe, launched in July 2003, appealed for US$ 114 million (part of the total of US$530 million appealed for Southern Africa) mostly in the social services and agricultural sectors. The figure did not include WFP food requirements, which were presented under the Southern Africa regional appeal.

The Appeal was developed in close partnership with NGOs, and based on plans to respond to the humanitarian crisis by concentrating on three main areas:

• preventing loss of life through food, nutrition, and critical health interventions
• mitigating the impact of crisis on vulnerable groups, by supporting household livelihoods and basic services, and addressing the impact of HIV
• further developing a productive dialogue among humanitarian stakeholders to strengthen co-ordination, in order to protect the most vulnerable

The decline in the Government's capacity to support national food security and sustain life-saving social services must be urgently addressed by humanitarian agencies. Much greater attention to preparedness measures will be needed to prevent starvation and increasing mortality.

Request

In the Consolidated Appeal for Zimbabwe, agencies request US$ 109,447,399 to meet outstanding funding requirements.

Funding Requirements in 2004
(US$)