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Poverty & Hunger

Republic of

Zimbabwe

In the early years of the 21st Century

Description: Description: Description: Zimbabwe

CAUTION:  The following links and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Zimbabwe in the early years of the 21st Century.  Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated, misleading or even false.   No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE

Students

If you are looking for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this page and others to see which aspects of poverty are of particular interest to you.  You might be interested in exploring the relationship between distribution of labor and per-capita GDP, for example.  Perhaps your paper could focus on life expectancy or infant mortality.  Other factors of interest might be unemployment, literacy, access to basic services, etc.  On the other hand, you might choose to include some of the possible outgrowths of poverty such as Human Trafficking, Street Children, or even Prostitution.  There is a lot to the subject of Poverty.  Scan other countries as well as this one.  Draw comparisons between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions.  Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources that are available on-line.

Teachers

Check out some of the Resources for Teachers attached to this website.

*** Extreme Weather ***

Despite receiving average rainfall in late December and early January, Zimbabwe experienced a catastrophic dry spell lasting more than 30 days in February 2024.  An estimated population of 6 million people is expected to be food insecure during the 2024-2025 lean season (January to March).  The current El Niño-induced drought is likely to impact food and nutrition security, reducing food access and diversity.

Water Insecurity: The drought exacerbates existing socio-economic vulnerabilities, especially in rural communities reliant on rain-fed agriculture.  Water shortages are expected to worsen, exposing 2.6 million people to water insecurity.  Even before the drought, 35% of rural households had inadequate access to water services, and 45% had to travel more than half a kilometer to fetch water.  

Zimbabwe is already battling a cholera outbreak linked to poor water, hygiene, and sanitation services.  The outbreak originated in February 2023 and remains active in more than 50 districts.adapted from Microsoft BING Copilot

*** ARCHIVES ***

The World Factbook - Zimbabwe

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency CIA

www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/zi.html

World Factbook website has moved to ---> www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/zimbabwe/

[accessed 11 January 2021]

ECONOMIC OVERVIEW - depends heavily on mining and agriculture; mineral prices, infrastructure, regulatory deficiencies, poor investment climate, large public and external debt burden, and extremely high government wage expenses impede economic performance

GDP - per capita (PPP): $2,300 (2017 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:

agriculture: 67.5%

industry: 7.3%

services: 25.2% (2017 est.)

Unemployment rate: 11.3% (2014 est.)

Population below poverty line: 72.3% (2017 est.)

Maternal mortality rate: 458 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.)

Infant mortality rate: total: 30.3 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 62.3 years

Drinking water source: improved: total: 77.3% of population

Physicians density: 2.99 physicians/1,000 population (2014)

Sanitation facility access: improved: total: 64.2% of population

Electricity access: electrification - total population: 34% (2016)

The Borgen Project - Zimbabwe

borgenproject.org/category/zimbabwe/

[accessed 15 February 2021]

The Borgen Project works with U.S. leaders to utilize the United States’ platform behind efforts toward improving living conditions for the world’s poor.  It is an innovative, national campaign that is working to make poverty a focus of U.S. foreign policy.  It believes that leaders of the most powerful nation on earth should be doing more to address global poverty. From ending segregation to providing women with the right to vote, nearly every wrong ever righted in history was achieved through advocacy. The Borgen Project addresses the big picture, operating at the political level advancing policies and programs that improve living conditions for those living on less than $1 per day.

~ 3 Ways The Un Is Helping Zimbabwe Provide Better Health Care For All

borgenproject.org/zimbabwe-provide-better-health-care-for-all/

~ Disability And Poverty In Zimbabwe

borgenproject.org/disability-and-poverty-in-zimbabwe/

~ Humanitarian Crisis In Zimbabwe

borgenproject.org/humanitarian-crisis-in-zimbabwe/

~ Covid-19 Affects Zimbabwe And Its Water Supply

borgenproject.org/covid-19-affects-zimbabwe/

~ Innovations In Poverty Eradication In Zimbabwe

borgenproject.org/innovations-in-poverty-eradication-in-zimbabwe/

~ Nespresso Helps Zimbabwean Coffee Production

borgenproject.org/zimbabwean-coffee-production/

Zimbabwe committed to ending hunger and poverty – President

Harare Bureau, Chronicle, 2 July 2021

www.chronicle.co.zw/zimbabwe-committed-to-ending-hunger-and-poverty-president/

[accessed 4 July 2021]

Towards sustaining agricultural production and productivity, the President said Zimbabwe has made various key interventions that will increase output and ensure food security.

“This has led to the prioritisation of climate-proofed production and productivity, with regards to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Equally, enhancing sustainable production and productivity in maize, traditional grains and soya beans, along with the associated value chains development, remain high on the agenda.

Hunger and poverty make young girls sell their bodies

Jeffrey Moyo,D+C Development and Cooperation, 15 February 2021

www.dandc.eu/en/article/zimbabwe-seeing-spike-child-prostitution-poverty-and-hunger-spread

[accessed 15 February 2021]

As Zimbabwe’s economic crisis deepens, the country is seeing an increase in child prostitution, sometimes involving girls as young as 12.

Hungry and desperate child prostitutes are appearing on streets all over the country, not only in mining towns. They ply their trade in in the capital Harare and in remote border towns frequented by long-distance truckers.

Many of the girls have dropped out of school, as their families cannot pay school fees. In 2019, about 60% of Zimbabwe’s children in primary school were sent home for failing to pay fees, according to the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee. Others, like Tracy and Melisa, have been orphaned.

Action Against Hunger - Zimbabwe

www.actionagainsthunger.org/countries/africa/zimbabwe

[accessed 21 March 2021]

Many Zimbabweans suffer from malnutrition coupled with HIV/AIDS infections, but the country’s massively deteriorated public health system is not properly equipped to handle this double threat. Since Action Against Hunger started in Zimbabwe in 2002, we have committed to integrating HIV and AIDS education and treatment in all of the programs that we conduct. Approximately 70% of patients diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition also have HIV/AIDS, and our nutrition programs are specifically designed to treat this particularly vulnerable group.

In Zimbabwe, 3.6% of children children under five are acutely malnourished and 1.6% suffer from severe acute malnutrition, the deadliest form of hunger. In 2019, food insecurity increased sharply following several destructive economic and climatic shocks. The agricultural sector suffered heavy losses due to Cyclone Idai and droughts caused by the El Nino climate phenomenon. Because of the current disastrous agricultural and macro-economic situation, 38% of Zimbabweans were in need of urgent humanitarian assistance in Autumn 2019.

The World Bank in Zimbabwe

www.worldbank.org/en/country/zimbabwe/overview

[accessed 21 April 2021]

The World Bank’s lending program in Zimbabwe is inactive due to arrears and the role is now limited to technical assistance and analytical work through Trust Funds.

Hunger forces Zim girls into forced marriages

[Category – Forced Marriage]

ZimOnline, Mutare, Zimbabwe, May 17 2006

www.mg.co.za/article/2006-05-17-hunger-forces-zim-girls-into-forced-marriages

[accessed 17 January 2011]

wunrn.com/2006/05/zimbabwe-girls-forced-marriages-hunger-rights/

[accessed 19 January 2020]

Faced with starvation after six years of poor harvests, Zimbabweans are resorting to centuries-old traditions of "forced marriages", known in the local Shona language as "kuzvarira", for survival.

Looking back a few years …

Advameg, Inc., Encyclopedia of the Nations

www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Zimbabwe-ECONOMY.html

[accessed 12 January 2021]

Problems abound, with an inflation rate of over 100% and the unemployment rate above 60% in 2001. A small white elite continues to dominate economic resources, but repatriation of white farms caused the flight of white capital in 2000, and by 2003, the land reform program had created chaos and violence. Inflation seriously threatened the gold mining and tobacco industries.

High budget deficits, inflation, and the HIV/AIDS pandemic prevent economic stability.

All material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use.  PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES.  Cite this webpage as: Prof. Martin Patt, "Poverty - Zimbabwe", http://gvnet.com/poverty/Zimbabwe.htm, [accessed <date>]