Friday 11 April 2008

Rachel Pounds, Save the Children's country director in Zimbabwe says:

"The people of Zimbabwe desperately need a resolution to this crisis. While the country is at a political standstill, the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe continues to deepen.

"Over a third of children in rural areas are now chronically malnourished.

"The harvest this year has again been bad, and while people are not yet starving to death, in the poorest areas the food they've collected is unlikely to last more than four months.

"Children we are working with are trying to survive on bitter wild fruit that they mix with ash to soften the taste.

"Many have been forced to drop out of school because they have no clothes, are too weak to travel the long distances or have to try to find work in an attempt to get food or money for their families."

Children are also bearing the brunt of the HIV and AIDS epidemic in Zimbabwe.

Pounds continued: "Save the Children is working with children, some as young as 13 and HIV+ themselves, who are caring alone for their sick parents or grandparents, clearing up vomit and blood, while still being responsible for finding food, cleaning the house and looking after their younger siblings."

"The appalling statistics speak for themselves. More than one in ten children in Zimbabwe now die before their fifth birthday, and the average life expectancy rate for women is now at 34, the lowest in the world.

"Coping with the trauma of losing parents or siblings has become normality for many children here. The country has the highest number of orphans per capita in the world."

The political impasse is also hampering the humanitarian aid effort, with aid organizations such as Save the Children unable to deliver aid to communities in both rural and urban areas.

Pounds said: "We have stocks of mosquito nets and kits to help children look after relatives with AIDS and not get infected themselves - none of which can be delivered until there is a resolution to this crisis. The chronic shortages in the country are also impeding what we can do. We can't even buy seed to distribute in preparation for next year's harvest.

"The stress on children and their families here is enormous. With the health system in tatters and hyper-inflation plunging more and more families into poverty, children urgently need the stability and support to start rebuilding their lives."