Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is in the grip of a severe political and economic crisis. Officially, inflation is a staggering 2.2 Million %. In reality, it’s much higher. One-third of all children are chronically malnourished, and 10 million people (out of a population of 13 million) live below the poverty line. Life expectancy stands at 34 — the lowest in the world. One in five adults (aged 15-49) is living with HIV and AIDS.
- We’re helping 26,107 households stay free from hunger
- We’re training home-based care teams to support orphans and other vulnerable children
- We’re registering 386 children for identity documents so they can claim their rights
Save the Children in Zimbabwe
We’ve worked in Zimbabwe for nearly 25 years. We work with community groups, teachers and health workers, local nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and government ministries to bring about change for the better in children’s lives. Last year, more than 140,000 people benefited directly from our support.
We're protecting and caring for children
Desperate poverty is forcing many children and young people to migrate to neighbouring countries to find work or go to school. This often makes them more open to exploitation and abuse.
We support 16 Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) centres in the areas where we work, benefiting 1,058 children. These centres provide meals (which for some children may be their only nutritious meal of the day), healthcare, education and play activities that children would otherwise miss out on.
We also involve parents, who make toys and play equipment for children who attend the ECCD centres. We’ve helped 386 children obtain birth certificates so that they can receive other support they’re entitled to.
We're helping children survive and grow up healthy
The economic crisis has put healthcare services under great strain. The AIDS epidemic continues to destroy lives — more than a million children have lost one or both parents.
We’re providing health and nutrition education to parents and carers and have built pit latrines and water pumps to improve access to clean water and reduce outbreaks of diarrhoea.
We’ve trained 267 community volunteers to provide home-based care for people living with HIV and AIDS. We give them bicycles, care kits and other equipment so that they can reach people who are isolated and very ill.
We're helping the poorest children and families get enough to eat
Every day in Zimbabwe, one in three children don't get enough to eat. Their mental development may be impaired and they’re likely to die younger.
In Binga and Nyaminyami, working with the World Food Programme (WFP), we enabled 26,107 households to stay free from hunger during the past year. We helped them grow more food and provided some food aid, which is more useful than cash in a country where hyperinflation means that prices double weekly and often daily.
We’re continuing to find innovative ways to help people protect what they grow — for example, using chilli pepper plants to deter elephants from trampling crops.
There’s been a 30% reduction in crop losses in the areas where we work, meaning more food for children and their communities and reduced child labour among 3,600 children through targeted tillage support schemes allowing them to enjoy their right to play and attend school.
Learn more about our work in Zimbabwe, download the Zimbabwe country brief (PDF 92KB)
Zimbabwe related news stories
- Tuesday 27 January 2009 Children and teachers unlikely to return to school as Zimbabwe term begins
- Thousands of teachers could fail to return to school when Zimbabwe’s new term begins today, denying millions of children their education.
- Wednesday 14 January 2009 Fears that under-five cholera deaths in Zimbabwe are going unrecorded
- The real cholera death toll may be hidden by a lack of awareness and under-reporting of under-five deaths from the disease
- Saturday 27 December 2008 Child malnutrition in Zimbabwe increasing as emergency aid pipeline falters
- Acute child malnutrition in parts of Zimbabwe has increased by almost two thirds compared with last year, according to Save the Children.
- Thursday 11 December 2008 Zimbabwe cholera epidemic ‘worsening’
- Speaking from the agency’s HQ in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare today, Save the Children’s country director Rachel Pounds said: “If anything is certain in the chaos of Zimbabwe today it is that the cholera outbreak is not under control.”
- Thursday 4 December 2008 Mothers-to-be face death in Zimbabwe
- Hundreds of pregnant women in Zimbabwe face death because of a near-total collapse of health services, Save the Children warned today
