Drought alarms World Health Organisation
was done on February 16, 2024.
“Pending (are) sequencing results for two samples from the 120 collected from health under 15 children during investigations in Harare city.”
Drought and food security
Marked on its calendar as a new event, the WHO said it had placed Zimbabwe in an “ungraded” status with regards the drought/food insecurity situation in the country.
“Ungraded” status is when there is a public health event or emergency that is being monitored by the WHO, but that does not require the WHO operational response.
“On April 3, 2024, Zimbabwe authorities declared a state of disaster over a devastating drought that is sweeping across much of southern Africa due to the El Niño phenomenon,” the weekly bulletin read.
“It needs US$2 billion for humanitarian assistance. Due to the El Niño-induced drought, more than 80% of the country received below normal rainfall.”
A ravaging El Niño-induced drought has worsened the situation, with international agencies putting the number of people facing acute food shortages at around 2,7 million.
Children suffer acute malnutrition
A 2024 Global Report on Food Crises released in April by the Global Network Against Food Crises in conjunction with the Food Security Information Network said “up to 3,5 million people or 23% of the total country population were projected to face high levels of acute food insecurity”.
It stated: “Anticipated El Niño-induced below-normal rainfall in January-March is expected to lower seasonal agricultural labour opportunities, particularly in semi-arid areas, and negatively impact cereal production in 2024.
“The cost of living is expected to continue to increase as an upturn in demand for grains, reflecting anticipated poor harvests in 2024, is likely to trigger strongerthan normal price increases through to the next harvest (FEWS NET, December 2023).”
It stated that 0,01 million children under five-yearsold suffered severe acute malnutrition in 2023 and that of the 2,9% of children under five-years-old with acute malnutrition in 2023, Manicaland province had the highest prevalence at 6,6%.
The report quoted the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee August 2022 and 2023 report as saying national prevalence of wasting among young children had reduced from 7,2% in 2022 despite rising levels of acute food insecurity.
Growing numbers
A Zimbabwe: Drought Flash Appeal report released on Thursday by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN Ocha) said an estimated six million people were expected to be food insecure in the country.
“The current El Niño-induced drought is expected to impact the food and nutrition security situation, reducing food access and diversity, and thereby the overall quality of people’s diets,” it said.
“Poor rainfall led to partial or complete crop failure in most parts of the country – 40% poor and 60% written off (ie completely lost).
“El Niño drought is exacerbating existing socio-economic vulnerabilities, particularly in rural communities who are reliant on rain-fed agriculture.” Drought to affect basic sanitation services
The UN flash appeal report added that the drought will further worsen water shortages in Zimbabwe, exposing 2,6 million people to water insecurity.
It said to respond to the scenario, the flash appeal requires US$429,3 million for humanitarian partners to target close to 3,1 million people.
“The appeal aims to mobilise humanitarian action in support of the government-led response and is directly complementing the government’s own relief efforts,” it said
“According to the 2023 Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) report, even before the drought, 35% of rural households were accessing inadequate water services, while 45% of rural households were travelling more than half a kilometre to fetch water.
“El Niño has significantly increased the risk that even more people will be faced with water insecurity, leading to longer distances and moreso, another that 46% of households do not use basic sanitation services (Rural ZimVAC, 2023).”
‘El Niño implications to be profound, multifaceted’ In January, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned that more people in Zimbabwe will likely require emergency food aid during the 2024/2025 lean season due to the impact of El Niño.
In February this year, WFP representative and country director in Zimbabwe Francesca Erdelmann said although the level of food insecurity in the country was yet to be determined, the implications of El Niño would likely be profound and multifaceted.
The lean season in Zimbabwe typically starts in October and reaches its peak between January and March.
It is a time when communities, particularly in rural areas, do not have enough food to feed themselves.
In this current lean season, 2,7 million people in rural Zimbabwe out of the country’s total population of 16 million people are food insecure, according to a livelihoods assessment done by the government, the WFP said.
Humanitarian action
A Zimbabwe vulnerability assessment committee report said 26% of the rural population will not have enough cereal for consumption and need over 100 000 metric tonnes of maize grain during the peak period.
Two months ago, President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared this year’s drought a nationwide state of disaster.
He then requested for US$2 billion in food aid to help millions of people impacted by the drought brought about by the El Niño weather pattern.
Mnangagwa said over 2,7 million people, or around a sixth of the country’s population, had not had adequate access to food this year due to low yields produced during the drought.
Zimbabwe, once a major grain exporter, has in recent years increasingly relied on aid agencies to avert famine.