Country

Relevant information, maps and updates related to this country.

Zimbabwe — more than 1,000 found

Highlights: Week 18 (30 April – 6 May 2012)

  • Cholera in Chiredzi

  • 52 typhoid cases reported

  • 11 114 malaria cases and 7 deaths reported

A. General Context

Typhoid outbreak in Harare is still on-going since 10 October, 2011. The disease has spread to other provinces. However the weekly number of cases has declined.

A cholera outbreak has started in Chiredzi.

Malaria outbreak has been reported in Mudzi and seasonal increases in many districts.

By Ignatius Banda*

BULAWAYO , May 22, 2012 (IPS) - Gertrude Mkoloi earns a living harvesting maize on a small piece of land in rural Zimbabwe. Or at least she used to.

Deep in rural Binga, more than 400 km from the country’s second-largest city, Bulawayo, Mkoloi stared blankly at her maize crop, scorched brown by the sun during what was meant to be the rainy season.

"This is what I have for my labour," she said, pointing to charred maize stalks that failed to grow tassels – a cluster of male maize flowers required for pollination.

KAMPALA, 22 May 2012 (PLUSNEWS) - The prevalence of drug-resistant HIV strains in Uganda has risen from 8.6 percent to 12 percent in the last five years, one of the highest rates in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to a recent study.

The PharmAccess African Studies to Evaluate Resistance (PASER) monitoring cohort study report for 2008-2012 found that the prevalence of transmitted drug resistance among people who have never taken life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) medication was substantially higher in Uganda.

PlusNews:

A selection of PlusNews reports are posted on ReliefWeb. Find more PlusNews news and analysis at http://www.plusnews.org

Une sélection d'articles PlusNews sont publiés sur ReliefWeb. Trouvez d'autres articles et analyses de PlusNews sur http://www.plusnews.org

This article does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. Refer to the IRIN copyright page for conditions of use.

Cet article ne reflète pas nécessairement les vues des Nations Unies. Voir IRIN droits d'auteur pour les conditions d'utilisation.

Tatenda Gumbo & Marvellous Mhlanga Nyahuye | Washington

The Zimbabwe National Water Authority or ZINWA has begun a national exercise to register boreholes throughout the country as the water crisis continues to affect many in the cities.

Under new rules, the water ministry now requires all borehole owners, including companies, drillers and water bottling companies to have them registered.

Those who want to sink boreholes, companies and individuals alike, will have to apply to get a license from the ministry.

Sebastian Mhofu

HARARE - United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has begun a five-day visit to Zimbabwe at the invitation of President Robert Mugabe. The president invited the U.N. human rights chief in hopes of clearing his government, which for years has been accused of being a gross violator of human rights. Civil society groups say Pillay will not see Zimbabwe's actual human rights situation during her visit.

Pillay, a former South African High Court judge who also has served on the International Criminal Court, arrived in Zimbabwe late Sunday.

By Madalitso Mwando

Low-rainfall areas of southern Zimbabwe have long been considered suitable for cattle ranching. Yet experts and the Ministry of Agriculture are alarmed by the loss of fodder as rainfall in the region reduces, and are also worried about the impact on the region’s livestock farmers.

Read the full article on AlertNet.

AlertNet:



For more humanitarian news and analysis, please visit www.trust.org/alertnet

HARARE, 21 May 2012 (IRIN) - Bright Makakai, 41, is constantly advised by a farming programme he listens to on his solar-powered radio to “plant small grains” in the drought-prone area of Shurugwi, about 200km southeast of Gweru, the capital of Midlands Province in Zimbabwe. But he chooses to cultivate mainly maize, even though the crop generally fails because of poor rains.

Integrated Regional Information Networks:

A selection of IRIN reports are posted on ReliefWeb. Find more IRIN news and analysis at http://www.irinnews.org

Une sélection d'articles d'IRIN sont publiés sur ReliefWeb. Trouvez d'autres articles et analyses d'IRIN sur http://www.irinnews.org

This article does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. Refer to the IRIN copyright page for conditions of use.

Cet article ne reflète pas nécessairement les vues des Nations Unies. Voir IRIN droits d'auteur pour les conditions d'utilisation.

05/21/2012 10:26 GMT

HARARE, May 21, 2012 (AFP) - Zimbabwe's justice minister said Monday that reports of torture and violence against political activists were "lies", during a visit by UN rights chief Navi Pillay.

"There is no state-sponsored violence, these are all lies. We told her that there are no torture chambers in Zimbabwe," Patrick Chinamasa said after an hour-long meeting with the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Agence France-Presse:

©AFP: The information provided in this product is for personal use only. None of it may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the express permission of Agence France-Presse.

Government schools are entitled to send primary schoolpupils home over non-payment of the $5 tuition fee, a cabinet minister has said.

Education Minister David Coltart, asked whether it was a government directive to send pupils home over late fee payments, said “no primary schools are free in Zimbabwe and the amount that is charged by the government is very little.”

Coltart added, “this fee does not apply to the rural schools but it is mandatory for pupils in urban areas excluding those that are on the Basic Education Assistance Module.”

Officials in Masvingo Province, south-eastern Zimbabwe, have confirmed a fresh cholera outbreak in the sugar-producing town of Chiredzi, which has killed two people since Monday.

About a 100 cases have been recorded, and authorities are blaming the recurrence on serious water shortages.

The outbreak is particularly bad news for the town, which lost more than a dozen lives to the epidemic last year. Health officials have since deployed teams to administer treatment and assess the situation.

Key Messages

  • Food security conditions over most parts of Southern Africa remain satisfactory and conditions are expected to remain so throughout the Outlook period. The projected average to above-average maize harvests are assessed to be sufficient to meet the region’s requirements for the next six months and beyond.

  • Current reports indicate that household food access has improved and increased on-farm food supplies have eased the pressure on local markets. Prices have stabilized, and in some cases, started dropping.

HARARE - Zimbabwe's finance minister has ruled out holding elections this year, saying the troubled nation does not have enough money to fund the polls. He blamed the problem on diamond mining firms failing to pay the government its share of revenue.

Addressing journalists in Harare, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said it was essential that the country’s precious stones help turn around the nation’s fortunes. As a result of diamond revenue not reaching the treasury, Biti said, there will be no elections in Zimbabwe this year.

Evidence shows that almost one billion people globally suffer from food insecurity, and that around 171 million children under five years old suffer from stunted growth due to undernutrition. As the G8’s previous commitment to food security and nutrition expires this year, Concern Worldwide strongly believes that now is the time to take preventative and long-lasting action that can help to make undernutrition history.

Jonga Kandemiiri | Washington

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network has launched a program to empower electoral administrators in the country ahead of possible early elections that President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party want held this year, though many believe the polls will only be called next year.

For years Beauty, 52, carried out menial tasks in return for food in Mashonaland East, a rural district in Zimbabwe. She couldn’t sell at the city market because it was considered neither safe nor appropriate for women in her community where vendors routinely wait overnight for markets to open. She was little involved in village decisions about its agricultural or economic affairs.

But today Beauty’s attitude, and that of her community, has changed, as the result of a project run by the Nyahunure Community Trust, supported by UN Women.

Deputy Prime Minister, Thokozani Khupe, has expressed shock at the sorry state of Bindura Provincial Hospital where taps are dry and there is only one ambulance. The largest referral hospital in Mashonaland Central also experiences frequent power cuts, which severely affect service delivery.

“I am shocked to be told that they do not have either water or electricity and I wonder how they operate. I am going to talk to the Minister of Water (Sipepa Nkomo) to make sure they drill boreholes here,’’ Khupe said during a recent tour of the province.

05/16/2012 15:29 GMT

JOHANNESBURG, May 16, 2012 (AFP) - The United States vowed Wednesday that it would not lift sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and dozens of top officials before there are signs of permanent political reforms.

Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, Johnnie Carson told a telephone conference that Washington will maintain its targetted sanctions until it sees "sufficient progress in the area of democratisation."

Agence France-Presse:

©AFP: The information provided in this product is for personal use only. None of it may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the express permission of Agence France-Presse.

Ntungamili Nkomo | Washington DC

National healing remains a mirage in Zimbabwe and simmering wounds from the 2008 presidential run-off will easily open-up and lead to more political violence in the next election cycle, Reconciliation Minister Moses Mzila Ndlovu has warned.

Mzila says lack of common ground in the uneasy unity government on the handling of the sensitive subject, makes it difficult for his ministry to forge a unified approach.

Chris Gande | Washington

The National Aids Council has raised concern that if no alternative funding is found for the procurement of HIV/Aids drugs, the lives of some 350 000 Zimbabweans receiving the life-saving medication may be jeopardized.

NAC Financial Director Albert Manenji told state media the anticipated shortages were a result of donor fatigue.

He said the problem would be further compounded by the withdrawal of the Global Fund, which has been funding 35 percent of the country’s needs.