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The food supply situation in Zimbabwe has deteriorated significantly in recent years. The country has been facing stern socio-economic decline since 2000, a vulnerability compounded by the aggravated impacts of climate change such as drought, low crop performance and limited irrigation.
All these factors have combined to lead to severe shortages of basic food across the country. Estimates suggest that up to 5.1 million people may be without access to food by the end of 2008. In addition, Zimbabwe, like so many countries on the African continent is suffering appallingly as a result of HIV and AIDS. The pandemic claims an estimated 2,300 lives every day. |
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Esther Mhike, Red Cross volunteer in Masvingo
For the past eight years, 60-year-old Red Cross volunteer Esther Mhike has arrived at the Red Cross office in Masvingo every morning at eight o’clock. Over the next four hours, Esther and her colleagues will head out into the surrounding area to visit Red Cross clients – people living with HIV and AIDS. She will sit with her clients – friends really – and listen to them talk about their problems and frustrations.
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| Opinion piece |
Food prices: waking up to Africa's nightmare
Last April's announcement by the United States government that it was releasing $200 million in emergency aid to alleviate chronic food shortages should be applauded by all. This intervention means that the UN’s World Food Programme will be able to get food to those who need it the most, a mission that had been profoundly threatened by a doubling in global food prices.
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8 September 2008
Food insecurity and orphanhood in Zimbabwe
When his mother finally succumbed to AIDS and passed away in 2005, six year old Tinashe Magama was taken in by his grandmother. The grieving family were immediately made beneficiaries of the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society’s food assistance programme. For Tinashe and his grandmother, their trauma was lessened in a small but meaningful way.
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