[Zimbabwe is suffering from a severe drought combined with a severe economic crisis. An overwhelming majority of young children in the country are malnourished, and there has been a recent increase in the number of children who have died due to severe malnutrition. The tragic situation in Zimbabwe can be largely attributed to economic underdevelopment due to imperialist exploitation of its economy and resources by foreign powers. Zimbabwe’s economy and infrastructure are not adequate to handle a severe climate crisis such as the drought that is occurring now. While Zimbabwe is in dire need of humanitarian aid in the short term, the long-term solution is for the people of Zimbabwe to unite with the other working peoples of the world and organize for socialist revolution in order to take back their resources and build a planned economy based on serving the interests of the people. —Medved]
Nearly US$300 million are urgently needed to provide 240,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe, which is in the biggest economic crisis in decades.
About half of Zimbabwe’s population faces severe hunger amid a devastating drought and economic collapse, the United Nations warned Tuesday.
The World Food Program said it that in total, 5.5 million people in the countryside and 2.2 million in urban areas need help, and acute malnutrition has risen from 2.5 percent last year to 3.6 percent.
Nearly US$300 million are urgently needed to provide 240,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe, which is in the biggest economic crisis in decades, according to WFP spokeswoman Bettina Luescher.
Luecher’s statements come after a U.N.-appointed independent expert Hilal Elver said a week ago that the country, once seen as the breadbasket of Africa, is now in the grip of “man-made starvation.”
The WFP expert explained that “a climate disaster” and an “economic collapse” are responsible for the current crisis, with normal rains recorded in just one of the last five growing seasons.
4.1 million.
That’s how many people @WFP plans to support in #Zimbabwe with life-saving food assistance – IF we have the resources.
The international community has been generous, but more is needed if we are reach those who need it the most.
Read more at the link: https://t.co/KuM0z3ukTz
— WFP Zimbabwe (@WFP_Zimbabwe) December 3, 2019
The rainy season is increasingly unreliable and particularly affects subsistence farmers, as they grow corn, a crop that needs a lot of water, and many of them are still recovering from the drought caused by El Niño between 2014 and 2015.
In addition, “the crisis is exacerbated by runaway inflation, rising unemployment, lack of fuel, prolonged blackouts and large-scale livestock losses, affecting both urban and rural villagers,” Luescher added.
WFP has almost doubled humanitarian assistance in Zimbabwe in an attempt to reach more than four million of the people most affected by the crisis.
Related to this, deaths of children from severe malnutrition have been increasing in recent months and 90 percent of Zimbabwean children aged six to 24 months are not consuming the minimum acceptable diet.
Original Source: https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/zimbabwe-faces-unprecent-famine-economic-crisis-and-drought-20191203-0011.html (Telesur)
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