We have detected that the browser you are using is no longer supported. As a result, some content may not display correctly.
We suggest that you upgrade to the latest version of any of the following browsers:
close notification
Sixt
y-three people, 48 of them children, died from hunger last
month in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo, a health official was
quoted as saying in a newspaper report Friday.
A top health official in the city, Zanele Hwalima, told the
Zimbabwe Independent that "poverty, food shortages and inability to
access nutrients" contributed to the deaths.
Health officials in Bulawayo were not immediately available to
confirm the figures to AFP.
Aid agencies estimate that some 5.5 million Zimbabweans -- 2,5
million of them in urban areas -- need emergency food aid this
year.
The United Nations last week appealed for close to 100 million
dollars (82 million euros) to meet "massive humanitarian needs" in
Zimbabwe caused by economic hardships, chronic food shortages and
the AIDS pandemic.
Zimbabwe is reeling under severe hardships with inflation hovering
at over 600 percent, unemployment at close to 70 percent and
critical shortages of food, medicine and fuel.
Two-thirds of Zimbabwe's 11,6 million people live below the poverty
line.
The Bulawayo City Council, dominated by the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change, in January released a report stating that 65
people, most of them children under the age of five, had died of
malnutrition and other hunger-related cases between August and
December of last year - Sapa-AFP.
Map
