"); NewWindow.document.close(); return false; }

UNICEF appeals to donors to look beyond politics
Friday 9 September 2005
Home About PlusNews Country Profiles News Briefs Special Reports Subscribe Archive IRINnews
 

Regions

Africa
East Africa
Great Lakes
Horn of Africa
Southern Africa
·Angola
·Botswana
·Comoros
·Lesotho
·Madagascar
·Malawi
·Mauritus
·Mozambique
·Namibia
·South Africa
·Swaziland
·Zambia
·Zimbabwe
West Africa
RSSyndication
RSS - News Briefs

Features

PlusNews E-mail Subscription
 

ZIMBABWE: UNICEF appeals to donors to look beyond politics


[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]



©  Obinna Anyadike/IRIN

Children facing deadly crisis in Zimbabwe, says UNICEF

JOHANNESBURG, 17 March (PLUSNEWS) - The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has called on the global community to "differentiate between the politics and the people of Zimbabwe".

"Every day children in Zimbabwe are dying of HIV/AIDS; every day children are becoming infected, orphaned and forced to leave school to care for sick parents. The global generosity towards tsunami victims was inspiring, but it has dried up for Zimbabwean children, who are facing a deadly crisis every day of their lives," said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy in Johannesburg on Thursday.

Despite the world's fourth highest rate of HIV infection, and the greatest rise in child mortality in any nation, Zimbabweans were receiving just a fraction of donor funding compared to other countries in the region, UNICEF noted.

"Some 110 Zimbabweans under the age of 15 will become infected with HIV/AIDS today," said Bellamy. "Another 110 will be infected tomorrow, 110 more the day after that. Yet, despite these horrendous numbers, Zimbabweans have the determination and the education to defeat HIV/AIDS and other causes of child mortality - but to do so they need international help."

UNICEF revealed that "one in five Zimbabwean children are now orphans; a child dies every 15 minutes due to HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe; 160,000 children will experience the death of a parent in 2005".

Yet in 2004-05 Zimbabwe received little or no HIV/AIDS funding support from the main donor initiatives. The World Bank estimates that Zimbabweans receive US $14 per capita from both development assistance and aid - less than one-quarter of what Namibians ($68) receive, and around 12 percent of those in neighbouring Mozambique ($111).

Despite the scarcity of funds, Zimbabwe has been making some headway in its fight against HIV/AIDS and rising child mortality. UNICEF is providing support for counselling and psychosocial support to 100,000 orphaned children, and has assisted in achieving a national measles coverage of 95 percent.

UNICEF noted that Zimbabwe was one of the few countries with a National Plan of Action for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs).

The children's agency is responsible for overall UN coordination of the OVC response, and has been supporting its implementation across Zimbabwe. UNICEF pointed out that Zimbabwe was the only country in Africa where a three percent tax levy had been instituted to generate domestic resources for fighting HIV/AIDS.

[ENDS]




 
Recent ZIMBABWE Reports
Villagers respond to AIDS orphans crisis,  5/Sep/05
Community-based counsellors are making a difference,  30/Aug/05
HIV-positive people dispersed in 'cleanup' operation,  28/Jul/05
Forced evictions could aggravate disease - health experts,  6/Jul/05
Taking the anti-AIDS message to the men,  9/May/05
Links
Le portail d'informations générales de la Côte d’Ivoire
Sida Info Services
Le Fonds mondial de lutte contre le SIDA, la tuberculose et le paludisme
Le Réseau Afrique 2000
Guinéenews

PlusNews does not take responsibility for info in links supplied.


[Back] [Home Page]

Click here to send any feedback, comments or questions you have about PlusNews Website or if you prefer you can send an Email to Webmaster

Copyright © IRIN 2005
The material contained on www.PlusNews.org comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information service, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies.
All PlusNews material may be reposted or reprinted free-of-charge; refer to the IRIN copyright page for conditions of use. IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.