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Zimbabwe Humanitarian Situation Report
The UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator’s Bi-Monthly Report
October 15, 2002

UN updates the Consolidated Appeal
The UNCT completed the review of Zimbabwe’s Consolidated Appeal on 7 October 2002. Emphasis was placed on the development and implementation of an integrated emergency response among all UN agencies prioritising the most vulnerable, such as child headed households, orphans and other vulnerable groups such as disabled, elderly and terminally ill.

US Ambassador to FAO/IFAD/WFP visits Zimbabwe
Tony Hall, United States Ambassador to the UN Food and Agriculture Agencies (FAO, WFP, IFAD) visited Zimbabwe from 8 - 11 October. He was briefed by the Country Office on the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe and visited a WFP distribution on 10 October in Muzarabani District in Mashonaland Central Province.

Mr Hall and his delegation also visited FAO field activities near Harare to familiarize themselves with the farm-level development work being done by FAO to increase food production (2 irrigation operations sites).

District staff trained in child supplementary feeding
UNICEF reported that training according to Child Supplementary Feeding Guidelines of Community Health Workers, District Nutritionists and Assistant Nutritionists in all districts has been finalised. The training has been undertaken for 400 district nutritionists and nurses on protocols related to malnutrition, referral and treatment of malnourished children. A Nutrition Working Group (NWG) was established to support stakeholders participating in the Child Supplementary Feeding Programme. The overall aim of the NWG is to enhance a coherent strategy, co-ordination of the implementation and monitoring of the Child Supplementary and Therapeutic Feeding Programmes.

GMO Memorandum of Understanding signed
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between WFP and the Government to facilitate the exchange of 17,500MT of US-donated biotech-derived maize grain for stocks held by the Grain Marketing Board (GMB). WFP and GMB are currently finalizing modalities for the commodity exchange, including transport details. The first swap is expected to occur within the next two weeks.

WFP food aid reaches over one million people
The food security situation is critical in most districts. People who are not receiving food aid have been surviving on wild fruits, which are now unavailable in some districts as they are out of season. Bread continues to be scarce due to a national shortage of wheat.

The government has approved three new WFP implementing partners (CRS, Goal and Concern) bringing the total to ten. The WFP programme is currently feeding over 1 million vulnerable Zimbabweans and plans are underway to double this number by the end of October.

Table: Amount of food distributed and number of beneficiaries

Province	No of Beneficiaries	Cumulative tonnes distributed
Masvingo	382,414	18,314
Mash West	33,602	2,244
Mash Central	112,466	5,077
Mat South	160,188	10,397
Mat North	77,066	5,119
Midlands	194,797	7,300
Manicaland	87,578	4,596
Total	1,048,111	53,047

Beneficiary registration and verification is being finalised in newly operational districts to ensure that about two million people in 28 districts receive food aid this month.

Preparation for the 2002/2003 agricultural season

Seeds
Controlled prices of seeds have recently been increased by between 120 and 300%. GoZ reported that it has procured 25,000MT of maize seed for the agriculture input support scheme for distribution to communal and resettled farmers. However, there remains concern about the distribution network of the Grain Marketing Board and Agriculture Rural Development Authority: preliminary indications are that the seed may not reach the farmers in time for planting. In addition there are also concerns about the market availability of agricultural inputs for households with available resources: seeds have not yet become available as expected.

Efforts by FAO and NGOs:
FAO reported an increase in numbers of input projects. These have been mainly bilaterally funded through Non-Governmental Organizations. The Agency is monitoring and co-ordinating NGO efforts to assist the most vulnerable groups with inputs for the 2002/2003 planting season.

FAO has completed a list of beneficiary districts and implementing partners have also been identified.

Table: FAO and NGO proposal on distribution of agricultural inputs as at 8 October 2002

Organisation	Districts	No of Targeted families	Quantities to be supplied
FAO	Areas not covered by other NGO’s	48,000	To be determined
Catholic Relief Services	Lupane, Tsholotsho, Chiredzi, Murehwa, Uzumba-Maramba, Makoni (Rusape)	23,850	3 seed varieties and fertiliser
Save the Children	Binga	11,000	Seeds and fertilisers
HELP		100,000	Maize, beans, millet & vegetable seeds
Christian Care	Gutu, Gokwe North and South, Buhera South, Bubi, Umguza	Aim is to target all families
Plan International	Chiredzi, Chipinge, Mutoko, Mutasa, Tsholotsho, Mutare, Kwekwe	59,572	Quantity not determined yet
Care Zimbabwe	Bikita,,Zaka, Masvingo, Zvishavane,Chivi, Gweru, Kwekwe and Gokwe	110,000	To be guided by FAO/WFP and target those with less than 5 ha.
CAFOD	Tsholotsho,Lupane, Nkayi, Bulilimamangwe, Gwanda, Gokwe	6,000	2kg millet, 2 kg sorghum and cowpeas
World Vision	Beitbridge, Bulilimamangwe, Gwanda,Insiza, Matobo, Bubi, Mutoko and Chiredzi.	60,000	10kg maize, 5kg groundnuts, 5 kg beans, 10kg sorghum
Estimated total families		418,422

HIV/AIDS sector gets a boost
The National AIDS Council of Zimbabwe has developed new programming to address AIDS impact reduction. In order to effectively co-ordinate and monitor the activities of related stakeholders, NAC is decentralizing to ward level. NAC indicated that an immediate special allocation of Z$5 million will be provided to each District AIDS Action Committee. A total of Z$420 million is required to cover 84 DAACs throughout the country. This will help minimizing the suffering of People Living With Aids (PLWA) and Children Orphaned by AIDS (COBA) through increased support for community home based and orphan care interventions. Basic kits for PLWA on community Home Based Care and support for procurement of supplementary essential food nutrients and assisting orphans to attend school in line with BEAM will be provided.

UNICEF indicated that the HIV/ AIDS component has been included in the child protection sector. There are further plans to train stakeholders on how to integrate HIV/AIDS into food distribution programs.

UNFPA responds to the Reproductive Health Sector
As an initial response, UNFPA has provided US$60,000 from its regular resources with a view to helping the MOHCW address safe motherhood issues. UNFPA has procured 176 emergency Reproductive Health (RH) kits. These include male and female condoms, clean delivery and post rape contraception kits, training and administration kits and STD drugs. The Emergency RH kits were ordered to provide an initial relief to 12 districts in Matebeleland North (Hwange, Tsholotsho, Nkayi); Matebeleland South (Kezi-Matobo, Insiza, Gwanda); Mashonaland Central (Mazowe, Rushinga, Guruve) and Manicaland (Mutare, Chimanimani, Buhera) provinces. Selection of the four provinces was based on the RH Rapid Assessment (May 2002).

Health Sector needs further strengthening
WHO reported that the current cholera outbreak exposed the inadequacies of the health system’s response. These include poor public awareness strategies and stakeholder co-ordination. Cholera patients took longer than normal to recover after rehydration that could be attributed to reduced nutritional levels. VAC assessment established that 42% of households are opting to reduce expenditure on health care as a coping mechanism as they strive to feed their families. In order to improve the health response system, WHO has set the following priorities:

• Training of health workers at district down to community level on epidemic preparedness.
• Improve public awareness.
• Improve NGO participation and co-ordination in the non-food sector.
• Ensure that drugs are distributed to vulnerable populations at sub-district level.

This Situation Report can be accessed on the Web at: www.reliefweb.int then click on "by country", then click on "Zimbabwe"

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