Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is facing a huge humanitarian emergency – economic and political crises as well as failed harvests due to flooding have led to around 5 million people not being able to grow or purchase food or other essentials. Basic services and the healthcare system have collapsed - the country is now experiencing a growing cholera problem with 7,000 cases having been reported nationally, 300 dead.
Millions of people have left Zimbabwe to escape crushing poverty, food insecurity and a collapsed infrastructure, many of them children. For those left behind and for those who have fled into countries like South Africa, this crisis has left families living in abject poverty.

Situation affecting children

Conditions are very difficult for many children in Zimbabwe. The crisis has crippled basic services and the healthcare system has collapsed.

Cholera is still evident in Zimbabwe. (Copyright: Rachel Dwyer, ) The four main hospitals in Harare have closed their doors to all obstetric cases, causing a vastly increased risk of death of mothers and babies during birth. The health services have insufficient materials and medicine and inadequately trained staff to deal with patients. On top of which many staff are no longer going to work as they simply are not being paid enough to survive.

In 1990, life expectancy was 60 years; in 2005 life expectancy for women had dropped to 37. Today, it stands at 34 – the lowest in the world. Zimbabwe is facing one of the worst HIV epidemics in the world - one in five adults (aged 15-49) is living with HIV and AIDS. More and more children are becoming orphaned and child mortality levels are on the rise.

10 million out of 13 million people in Zimbabwe live in poverty. With inflation at an official level of 243 million %, (in reality in the billions), buying essentials such as food is an enormous struggle for most families, this combined with country wide food insecurity due to harvest failure has left around one-third of all children chronically malnourished with concerns that acute malnutrition is rising. .

Many children are going without education – around 75% of state schools are not functioning properly because the majority of state teachers are not working as they are not paid enough to survive and have to look for or work for food. Many poor families are being forced to send their children out to find work or wild foods and simply can no longer afford to send them to school.

Our response

Save the Children is scaling up its work significantly after a five-month operating ban was lifted in August, to meet the needs of people in Zimbabwe. Save the Children has been in Zimbabwe for the past 25 years. We are working in the areas of education, health, livelihoods, protection and food provision. We are supporting access to quality education for over 150,000 children in Bikita, Rushinga, Tsholotsho, Nkayi and Harare areas. We are training teachers and providing teaching and learning materials as well as making improvements to school buildings. Already, 14,000 people have been reached by the cholera response and anthrax interventions which includes treatment, health education and promotion activities. We’ll also be improving health care access for pregnant women, newborn babies, breastfeeding mothers and children under five.

How you can help

To support children in Zimbabwe who are in desperate need of help please visit www.savethechildren.og.uk or visit your national Save the Children organisation.

More information

For more information and for interviews, please contact Save the Children's media unit in Zimbabwe Sarah Jacobs, Media Officer for Africa, +44 (0) 207 012 6836 Save the Children UK

More on our response

Eye Witness Accounts

Voices: Thabse's Story
Diary of an Aid Worker Sarah Jacobs, Media Manager Africa
Diary of an Aid Worker Lynn Walker, Deputy Country Director in Zimbabwe
Voices: Josephine and Richard 'Lionheart'
Voices: Nomota - Zimbabwe's hero
Video:Children in Zimbabwe need your support
Voices: Living in Zimbabwe, 11 year old Fungai tells his story

Press Releases

Child malnutrition in Zimbabwe increasing as emergency aid pipeline falters (27 December)
Zimbabwe cholera epidemic ‘worsening’ says aid agency (12 December)
International Community must respond to Zimbabwe cholera emergency declaration (04 December)
Anthrax infections bring new misery to cholera-hit Zimbabwe (01 December )
Give now to help Zimbabwe's children (16 September)