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Orphans, infants vulnerable
The Daily Mirror
May 03, 2005

http://www.dailymirror.co.zw/

In its pilot Food and Nutrition Surveillance System report covering the last six months, the FNC, which is under the auspices of the Scientific and Industrial Research Centre (SIRDC), revealed that children in Bulilimamangwe, Tsholotsho, Chimanimani, Centenary and Kariba were the most vulnerable to malnutrition.

The food report aims to provide periodic and timely information required for effective decision-making and action by stakeholders for the welfare of children. The FNC said food shortages were the prime cause of malnutrition in Matabeleland as only a paltry 36 percent of its population was able to produce food for household consumption and the rest needed to supplement their meagre harvests.

Worse still, food, especially maize, was very expensive in the province and as a result, places like Tsholotsho and Bulilimamangwe recorded 6,7 and 6,1 percent respectively for children facing hunger.

The FNC also raised concern over the chronic malnutrition in Manicaland where 28 percent of the children under the age of five were in need of assistance. The bulk of the children facing malnutrition were orphans.

Zimbabwe has an estimated 800 000 orphans, most of them children orphaned by Aids which kills an estimated 2 500 people a week in the country. Apart from malnutrition, the FNC said 28 percent of the households studied, especially those in rural areas, used unsafe water and had no access to toilets.

It also said 94 percent and 90 percent of children in Centenary and Kariba respectively had not received Vitamin A supplements in the past six months.

Meanwhile, the NFC said the results of the study, financed by the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), would not apply to the country’s 10 provinces, as only 3000 children were involved in the project.

It said the report needed to be scaled up to give a holistic picture of the situation in Zimbabwe.

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