Attachments
Highlights
- The Government of Zimbabwe issued a Flash Appeal to address the El Niño induced drought amounting to US$ 3.9 billion (US$ 2 billion for immediate response and US$1.9 billion for resilience building interventions).
- The UN Resident Coordinator launched the inter-agency El Niño induced drought flash appeal of US$429.3 million, to complement the Government appeal targeting 3.1 million people with immediate lifesaving services.
- During the first half of 2024, a total of 1,504,493 children aged 6-59 months were screened for wasting and 6,793 children treated.
- UNICEF supported 227,447 children (113,214 girls, 114,233 boys) to receive the first dose of measles rubella 1 and 1,569,735 people (1,994,313 females and 565,422 males) with access to essential primary health care during the first half of 2024.
- UNICEF provided safe water for drinking and domestic purposes to a total of 394,553 people including 78,910 children with between January and June 2024
- UNICEF’s school feeding programme reached 36,724 children (18,663 girls and 18,061 boys), during the first term of the school year.
- During the first half of 2024, UNICEF supported 19,489 households in six districts with Emergency Social Cash Transfer Programme (ESCT).
Funding Overview and Partnerships
In response to the increasing humanitarian needs in Zimbabwe, UNICEF is appealing for US$26.8 million in 2024, to address the urgent needs of affected populations. The country is facing multiple hazards, including the El Niño induced drought, protracted cholera outbreak, polio outbreak, and economic crisis. The funding will enable UNICEF to provide critical humanitarian assistance to 2 million people including 978,611 children in the most affected areas. So far, UNICEF Zimbabwe has received a total of US$10.3 million (38 per cent of the total funding requirement) from various donors. These include the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the Government of Japan, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and UNICEF Global Humanitarian Thematic Funds. Funding has also been received through the Health Resilience Fund (HRF) - funded by the European Union, the Governments of Ireland, and the United Kingdom, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Additionally, private sector partners such as Alliance Media and JCDecaux have provided valuable in-kind support to use digital billboards for critical messaging, while Universal Postal Services (UPS) have provided essential cash-in-kind logistics support for essential commodities including intravenous fluids, infusion sets and oral rehydration salts.
Situation Overview and Humanitarian Needs
Zimbabwe faces a complex crisis, driven by climate related El Niño induced drought, economic instability, and public health emergencies, including cholera and polio outbreaks. The El Niño induced drought has left 7.6 million people including 3.5 million children in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, protection support, and livelihood support, to recover from losses and rebuild resilience. This crisis is exacerbating the ongoing polio outbreak and the protracted cholera outbreak which began in October and February 2023, respectively. As of 30 June 2024, Zimbabwe has recorded a cumulative total of 34,550 cholera cases from 63 districts across the 10 provinces with 719 deaths which resulted in a case fatality rate of 2.1 per cent. Additionally, the country has detected 22 circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) cases from four environmental samples (ES) in Harare since October 2023 (17 cases from 2023 and five in 2024). Furthermore, in January 2024, one index human poliovirus type 2 was reported in a 10-year-old girl with a case of Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP).
The protracted cholera outbreak is attributed to inadequate WASH infrastructure, frequent sewer bursts, erratic water supply aggravated by regular power cuts, a shortage of bulk water treatment chemicals, sub-optimal solid waste management and unsafe hygiene practices. The situation is further exacerbated by the rapid population growth in urban settings which has resulted in communities settling in areas that are not serviced with water and proper sewer systems. At-risk communities are turning to contaminated alternative water sources like shallow wells, and river water due to inadequate access. In addition, perennial urban sewer blockages, illegal settlements with poor sanitation, and increased open defecation and the use of septic tanks, have further contaminated groundwater. The shortage of health frontline workers has also hindered outbreak management. Insights from Community Social Listening reveal behavioural and social drivers of cholera including unsafe burial practices, poor food handling, and hygiene practices at large funeral or religious gatherings.
The 2023-2024 El Niño induced drought resulted in massive crop failure, and depletion of water resources and pastures in Zimbabwe. The El Niño induced drought caused compounding humanitarian consequences on food security, nutrition, health, water sanitation and hygiene (WASH), education, social protection, shelter, agriculture, energy, infrastructure, and cross-cutting issues. In May 2024 the Government of Zimbabwe issued a joint flash appeal document, costed at US$ 3.9 billion for immediate response (US$2 billion) and resilience-building interventions (US$ 1.9 billion).
Similarly, an inter-agency drought flash appeal of US$ 429.3 million was launched by the UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator on 9 May 2024, targeting an estimate of 3.1 million people to complement the Government’s joint appeal. The inter-agency flash appeal aims to mobilize humanitarian action funds to deliver the most urgently needed lifesaving services to the people who need them the most. Following the evolving humanitarian needs due to El Niño drought, UNICEF Zimbabwe developed a response plan which requires a total funding of US$ 84.9 million, targeting 1.34 million people, of which 866,072 are children, for humanitarian response focusing on strengthening lifesaving integrated services in Health, Nutrition, Water and Sanitation, Child Protection, Education, and Social Protection. So far, UNICEF Zimbabwe has received a total of US$4 million (5 per cent) from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and UNICEF Global Humanitarian Thematic Funds (GHTF).
The El Niño induced drought emergency is expected to worsen in the latter half of 2024, leading to increased moderate and life-threatening severe malnutrition, disease outbreaks, and health issues among children. Furthermore, food insecurity exacerbates poverty, vulnerability and risks of school dropouts, gender-based violence, abuse, and exploitation of children. Additionally, water scarcity will lead to the spread of diarrhoeal and other water-related diseases among children and vulnerable families. Currently, 4 per cent of the enumerated water sources in the country have dried up, primarily in Masvingo, Matabeleland South, and Midlands Provinces. As the drought intensifies, its cumulative effects will overwhelm households’ coping mechanisms later in 2024, leading to a peak in the severity of the water security and nutrition status of children.
The Food and Nutrition Council of Zimbabwe (FNC) endorsed the 2024 urban Zimbabwe Livelihoods Assessment Committee (ZimLAC) assessment results in May 2024. The findings reveal a deteriorating situation of household food insecurity in urban areas and an increase in household food insecurity from 29 per cent to 35 per cent of the population, translating to 1,732,770 people. Furthermore, child wasting has increased from three per cent to 5.6 per cent between 2023 and 2024 respectively, indicating a deteriorating nutrition situation. In addition, the report shows that 6.1 per cent of children (4-19 years) were receiving hot meals at school nationwide, 50.3 per cent of urban households had access to limited sanitation services and 3.3 per cent of the households still practice open defecation.