Zimbabwe

Link to HNO (not available yet)

Zimbabwe is facing the impact of a strong El Nino event which started in December 2023 and has caused above average temperatures and below average rainfall, with a historic mid season dry spell. This El Nino is being compared to severity to the 2015/2016 El Nino. The El Nino induced drought resulted in an extremely poor harvest with over 60 percent of the crops planted this season lost. Trends in admissions for wasting from the previous comparable El Nino event (2015-16) show that malnutrition is likely to rise from the start of the lean season (Sep-Oct 2024) and remain elevated until well into the harvest season in 2025 (Apr-May 2025), with a preceding window of opportunity to protect child diets and prevent an increase in life-threatening wasting. UNICEF started anticipatory action for prevention of malnutrition in 2023 (in 6 ERVHIZ districts with EU funding), scaling up to an additional 5 drought and malnutrition-prone districts (of the Government 29 high-priority districts) from January 2024 with CERF funds. In line with the National Emergency Preparedness and response plan, priority supported activities in the 29 high-priority districts included scaling up of the national Care Group approach and early identification and referral to treatment of children with wasting, resulting in 6516 functioning Care Groups reaching 234 230 caregivers with counselling and referral services across the 29 districts, 1504493 children screened in the community and 6793 children were referred and treated for wasting. Further, through partnerships with World Vision International and Nutrition Action Zimbabwe, UNICEF supported training for the integrated management of acute malnutrition (IMAM) for xx staff in xx facilities. With support from the Health Resilience Fund (HRF), UNICEF supported increased screening, early identification and referral of children with wasting for treatment in 19 of the high-priority districts, and Proxy-GAM and SAM was generated for xx districts using the screening data, showing xxx. A continuing challenge to scale up emergency response is the funding gap against the response plan of 95%. 

Link to HRP 2021

• The financial requirements of the nutrition sector in Zimbabwe have not been met thereby crippling the emergency response. 

• Although nutrition commodities were generally available at the national level, there were challenges of inconsistent distribution and supply chain with some facilities reporting stock-outs of RUTF and MNPs, hence the need for stronger liaison with the logistics team at Provincial and National levels.