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29 children die of hunger-related illnesses in Bulawayo
ZimOnline
May 05, 2006

http://www.zimonline.co.za/headdetail.asp?ID=12060

14 males and 15 females aged between zero and four years died in January because of malnutrition-related diseases while one adult male aged between 40 and 49 years died in the period under review. The other four deaths were of people aged between five and 14 years

Bulawayo - At least 29 children died last January in Zimbabwe's second largest city of Bulawayo because of malnutrition-related illnesses, in yet another example of deepening crisis in a country that was this week ranked among the world's top five failed states. According to statistics compiled by the Bulawayo city council, all in all about 34 people died in the city of nearly one million people that is tucked at the heart of Zimbabwe's arid southern region, hardest hit by food shortages affecting the country since 2000.

Bulawayo Executive Mayor Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube would not be drawn to discuss in detail the death figures that were shown to Zim Online on Thursday but are expected to be tabled for discussion at a full council meeting scheduled for the 10th of May. Ndabeni-Ncube however described the figures as alarming and appealed to churches and donor groups to help pool resources to prevent further deaths due to malnutrition-related illness. He said: "The figures are too high for a single month, they are disturbing and the situation is too bad and council, churches and donor agencies have to pool resources together to support the poor families who cannot afford to feed themselves."

Bulawayo provincial governor Cain Mathema was also not available for comment when Zim Online called his office. According to the council figures, 14 males and 15 females aged between zero and four years died in January because of malnutrition-related diseases while one adult male aged between 40 and 49 years died in the period under review. The other four deaths were of people aged between five and 14 years, the table of figures show. There are no figures for 2005 apparently after the city council was unable to collect data from the government's births and deaths registry office but 180 people died in Bulawayo because of malnutrition-related illnesses in 2004. The latest figures of deaths because of hunger-related illnesses are certain to rile President Robert Mugabe's government which insists it is on top of food shortages and that no one will die in Zimbabwe because of hunger. The government threatened to fire Ndabeni-Ncube in 2004, accusing him of lying and manipulating figures of malnutrition-related deaths to cause public alarm and despondency. Ndabeni-Ncube, who belongs to the splintered main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party, is the only mayor who routinely compiles data on food shortages and malnutrition-caused deaths.

Zimbabwe, once touted as a shining beacon and a model economy for black Africa, is fighting its most crippling economic crisis to date, which has been worsened by the withdrawal of international support over policy differences with Harare such as its forcible seizure of white-owned commercial farms for blacks. Mugabe's failure to back up new black farmers with inputs support and skills training saw food production tumbling by about 60 percent, leaving former self-sufficient Zimbabwe dependent on food aid since land seizures began in 2000. Hunger, the world's worst economic recession outside a war zone and a burgeoning HIV/AIDS pandemic that is killing at least 3 000 Zimbabweans per week have all combined to leave Zimbabwe with the lowest life expectancy in the world, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). In a report released last month, the WHO said life expectancy for women in Zimbabwe was down to 34 years while men could expect to live up to 37 years. The Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace this week ranked Zimbabwe the world's fifth failed state out of 148 nations polled, citing poor governance and endemic corruption as chief reasons the once prosperous southern African country had plunged to become one of the most vulnerable in the world.