Attachments
Highlights
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A total of 1,839 children (954 girls and 885 boys) were treated for wasting in January and February 2024.
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A total of 363,906 people (99,099 males and 264,807 females) accessed essential primary health care services between January and February 2024.
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A total of 28,576 people including 13,145 children were provided with safe water for drinking and domestic purposes. Furthermore, 128,149 people including 58,949 children were supplied with hygiene kits which enabled them to practice safe hygiene.
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A total of 1,738 women and girls accessed gender-based violence risk mitigation, prevention or responses interventions in January and February 2024.
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A total of 201,507 children (101,895 girls and 99,612 boys) were supported by UNICEF through the provision of learning materials for continued access to formal and non-formal education including early learning between January and February 2024.
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UNICEF reached 246,291 people including 61,297 children with lifesaving messaging on hygiene promotion, including WASH practices for cholera prevention and cholera treatment through interpersonal and multimedia communication.
Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs
Zimbabwe’s humanitarian context remains fragile and complex, chronically grappling with climate induced shocks including floods and drought, exacerbated by economic instability, and public health emergencies of cholera and polio. The protracted cholera outbreak started on 12 February 2023 in Chegutu town, Mashonaland West Province. As of 29 February 2024, 26,708 suspected cholera cases including 2,723 culture confirmed cholera cases, 71 confirmed cholera deaths, and 498 suspected cholera deaths had been reported in all 10 provinces of the country. The crude Case Fatality Rate (CFR) averaged 1.86 per cent against the <1 per cent WHO threshold.
Determinants to the outbreak are linked to poor WASH infrastructure, regular sewer bursts, erratic water supply exacerbated by regular power cuts, shortage of bulk water treatment chemicals, sub-optimal solid waste management and unsafe hygiene practices. Compounding the situation is the rapid population growth in urban settings which has resulted in communities settling in areas which are not serviced with water and proper sewer systems. This has resulted in the at-risk communities looking for alternative water sources - shallow wells, river water, which are contaminated.
Perennial sewer blockages in urban residential areas have also been noted and with the sprouting of illegal settlements that are under served, this has exacerbated open defecation, and or the use of septic tanks leading to ground water contamination. The unprecedented attrition of health frontline workers has also resulted in a shortage of staff to manage the outbreak. Insights from community social listening (CSL) underscore some of the behavioural and social drivers of cholera that include unsafe burial practices involving washing of the deceased body before burial, poor food handling and hygiene practices at large funeral or religious gatherings.
UNICEF, in partnership with the Government and implementing partners, reached 28,576 people (14,749 female; 13,827 male; and five people with disabilities (PWDs)) of the targeted 258,227 people with safe water for drinking and domestic purposes through bucket chlorination, water trucking and rehabilitation of water supply infrastructure in the cholera affected districts. Through targeted distributions of critical WASH supplies and cluster/case area targeted interventions (CATIs), UNICEF in partnership with the Government and partners supported cholera affected families, reaching a total of 128,149 people (67,856 female; 60,288 male; five PWDs) form the targeted 750,000 people with hygiene kits comprising of soap for handwashing, household water treatment chemicals, water storage containers and Information, Education & Communication (IEC) materials in response to the cholera outbreak. Additionally, of the targeted 1 million people, UNICEF reached 246,291 people including 61,297 children with lifesaving messaging on hygiene promotion, including WASH practices for cholera prevention and cholera treatment.
UNICEF in collaboration with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MoPSE) provided access to formal and non-formal education to 201,507 children (101 895 girls and 99,612 boys) of the 204,970 children targeted through provision of learning materials. Additionally, a total of 1,839 children (954 girls and 885 boys), were treated for wasting in January and February 2024.
Furthermore, between January and February 2024, a total of 1,738 women and girls accessed gender-based violence risk mitigation, prevention or responses interventions which was inclusive of specialized medical support services within the National Case Management Child Protection System.