Highlights
Nationally, admissions of children with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) have increased from 1,607 in January to 1,734 in February 2016. In the four districts where active nutrition screening is taking place, the number of children admitted for treatment of SAM has more than doubled from 322 to 730 during the period December 2015 to February 2016.
Over 781 people were affected by flash floods in Dulibadzimu suburb in Beitbridge. UNICEF assisted the affected families with the provision of family hygiene kits to prevent water and sanitation related diseases.
A typhoid outbreak was declared in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare. To date, 944 cases have been reported, out of these 55 were confirmed as typhoid and a total of 5 typhoid related deaths have been reported. UNICEF has responded to the typhoid outbreak with the provision of Health and WASH services which include the drilling of boreholes, hygiene promotion interventions and the provision of medical supplies.
SITUATION IN NUMBERS
5,091 Children admitted and treated for severe acute malnutrition during the period Dec 2015-Feb 2016 (DHIS, March 2016)
944 Cumulative typhoid cases reported with 55 confirmed cases and 5 deaths (MoHCC,
March 2016)
31,675 Drought affected children, women and men provided with access to safe water to prevent water and sanitation related diseases (UNICEF, March 2016)
UNICEF Zimbabwe 2016 Humanitarian Requirements US $12.2 million96% Funding Gap
Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs
The El Niño event continued to negatively influence the rainfall and agricultural season over the last month despite the marginal improvement in rainfall which was recorded. Information on the status of water sources in six (6) of the most food insecure districts collected weekly through Rapid Pro show a large increase in functional water sources from 51% to 65% during the reporting month. This is attributed to the rains received in March and the ongoing water rehabilitation and repair work under the Regular and Emergency programmes. As at 18 March 2016, the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) reported that the national dam water levels had increased slightly to 53.4% from 50.4 % due to an increase in rainfall as shown on Table 1 below. According to the Meteorological department, the rainfall season will come to an end by Mid-April. It is expected that there will be further reduced dam levels owing to the overall poor rainfall season, water abstractions for supplementary summer and winter irrigation as well as high evaporation due to the unusual high temperatures. This will further worsen water insecurity affecting an already vulnerable food and nutrition insecure population.
A cholera outbreak was reported in Chiredzi during the month of February. To date a total of 3 cases have been reported with one case laboratory confirmed. The outbreak was controlled successfully and no deaths were reported as a result of good active contact tracing, case finding and case management practices. In response to the food and nutrition insecurity situation in the country, the Humanitarian Country Team and Government have developed a draft Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) and a draft Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), focusing on the key sectors of Food security and agriculture, health and nutrition, education, WASH and protection based on an overall population in need of 2.8 million people, approximately 30% of rural households. The HRP will cover the period (April 2016–March 2017). UNICEF is leading the Education, Nutrition, WASH and Child Protection sectors.