Unicef’s plans for (08-02-07)

report for 2007 says the overall goal of its next five-year Country Programme is to promote the right of every Zimbabwean child to equitable access to good quality services, including health, water, sanitation and hygiene, basic education, and protection. The programme places orphans and other children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS at its centre.
The report says gender-based violence is one of the key challenges in the current humanitarian situation. “Families affected by ‘Operation Murambatsvina’ were exposed to sexual exploitation and abuse as they tried to access basic humanitarian aid. The vulnerability of internally displaced persons was compounded by factors such as inadequate social protection mechanisms in the new settlements and acute decline in opportunities for livelihoods.”
Key statistics highlighted in the report include the following:
-Zimbabwe is one of the countries hardest hit by the HIV epidemic, with an adult seroprevalence rate estimated at 20.1 per cent.
-An estimated 1.7 million people were living with HIV/AIDS in 2005.
-More than half of all new infections occur among young people, especially girls.
-Life expectancy has dropped from 61 years during the early 1990s to 34 years at the end of 2005, creating a generation of orphans.
-75% of the estimated 1.4 million orphans in Zimbabwe in 2005 have been orphaned by AIDS.
-In 2007 alone, 130,000 children will lose one or both parents, and orphans will account for 25 per cent of children.
-The maternal mortality ratio increased from 283 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1995 to 1,100 per 100,000 live births in 2004.
-The proportion of children who had not received any vaccination increased from 12 per cent in 1999 to 21 per cent in 2006.
-29.4 per cent of under-five children are stunted.
-Acute malnutrition has remained relatively static at around 6 per cent since 1999.
-In rural areas, 17,068 communal water supply facilities (24 per cent) are currently not functioning.
-This means a daily shortage of safe water supply for some 2.5 million people.
-Zimbabwe continues to experience cholera epidemics that have affected 27 rural districts and Harare city between November 2005 and June 2006, with a total of 1,034 cases and 70 deaths reported.
-The textbook/pupil ratio is 1:8 for 2 million primary school-aged children and 1:16 for 1.5 million secondary schoolchildren aged 13-18 years.
– Only 42 per cent of pupils pass their grade 7 exams.
Unicef says its health sector activities, including immunization, supply of mosquito nets, health worker training and nutrition education, will improve the lives of 2 million children and women in Zimbabwe.
Water projects, such as the rehabilitation of water points, emergency assistance with epidemics, construction of latrines and provision of chemicals, are expected to reach four million people.
The education programme will rehabilitate 50 satellite schools at temporary and new settlements arising from population movements and provide cash grants with a focus on girls and disabled children.
Unicef aims to tackle the domestic violence problem through advocacy and social mobilization for the implementation of the new Domestic Violence Act at district and community level, developing the capacity of the police and judiciary to ensure victim-friendly services and establishing child protection committees at district levels.