Zimbabwe: UNICEF Seeks $65.8Million to Provide Aid

By Development Diaries
September 23, 2021

United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) says it needs U.S.$65.8 million to mitigate the residual impacts of Cyclone Idai, floods and Covid-19 in Zimbabwe.

Cyclone Idai struck Zimbabwe in March 2019, affecting 270,000 people. The storm and subsequent flooding and landslides left 340 people dead, agriculture, schools and infrastructure all suffered heavy impacts.

In its latest Zimbabwe situation report, UNICEF said despite improved cereal security in the country as a result of increased maize yield, food insecurity has persisted in some areas including urban areas.

‘The year-on year-inflation rate for the month of August 2021, as measured by all items in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), stood at 50.24 percent – a marked reduction from 107 percent in June 2021’, UNICEF said.

Before the outbreak of Covid-19, Zimbabwe’s economy was already in recession, contracting by 6.0 percent in 2019, while unemployment remained at 4.90 percent, according to Trading Economics.

‘According to the ZIMSTAT (Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency) Rapid PICES phone survey, conducted from December 2020 to 10 March, 2021, a significant share of households continued to report reduced income from various sources in the aftermath of the second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak’, UNICEF said in the report.

‘However, the month-on-month inflation rate in August 2021 was at 4.18 percent gaining from 3.88 percent recorded in June 2021.

‘This marginal increase in month-on-month inflation continues to exert pressure on the prices of basic goods and services on the domestic market’.

The report noted that despite the national Covid-19 vaccination campaign progressing steadily, some negative perceptions and barriers to vaccination still persist.

‘The third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic continues to adversely affect the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe with a sharp increase in cases between June and August 2021 before a steady decrease of cases during the second half of August 2021′, it found.

‘Access to health-favoured urban areas compared to rural areas, and lack of money was the primary reason for not being able to access medical treatment as sited by 78 percent of households’.

As of the end of August 2021, only U.S.$11 million, which is 17 percent of the total 2021 funding requirement, had been secured by UNICEF, according to the report.

Source: UNICEF