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UNICEF, govt clash on statistics
Patience Nyangove, The Daily Mirror (Zimbabwe)
April 20, 2006

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

THE United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) claims that at least one child dies in Zimbabwe every three minutes, but the government yesterday denied the assertion saying it was exaggerated.

The United Nations agency's revelations were made last week in a joint press statement by Unicef and the United Kingdom's Department for International Development on the UK's $3 trillion donation to Zimbabwe to improve the plight of orphans and vulnerable children.

"The funds from DFID, in addition to 2 million pounds given to Unicef last year, will be distributed over four years. They come as Zimbabwean children are faced with some of the worst hardships confronting children anywhere in the world.

"These include a child being orphaned every 20 minutes in Zimbabwe, one in eight children now dies before the age of five compared with one in 13 children 15 years ago, three infants become infected with HIV every hour and every 20 minutes a child dies of Aids in Zimbabwe," read the statement.

The Deputy Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Edwin Muguti yesterday said the statistics were wrong and sensationalised.

"This is sensationalism, an alarmist approach to the medical profession. I do not know what people are trying to prove with these kind of reports," Muguti said. "Although the mortality rate is high in the country because of
HIV and Aids, these statistics by Unicef are exaggerated."

However, Muguti did not reveal the mortality rate saying he could not provide them off hand.

The funding from DFID – the largest ever to Unicef in Zimbabwe – will help the country deliver a national plan of action for orphans and vulnerable children

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