PRESS BRIEFING BY UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN’S FUND

Calling the situation dire, Nils Kastberg, Director of Emergency Programmes, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), briefed correspondents at Headquarters this afternoon on the consolidated appeal launched by the United Nations to provide life-saving assistance for some 6.5 million people in southern Africa, severely weakened by consecutive failed harvests, extreme poverty and HIV/AIDS. 

In the appeal, launched earlier today in Johannesburg, the United Nations system, in collaboration with non-governmental organizations and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) requested $530 million to address the humanitarian needs of those in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.  In addition to food aid, the 12-month appeal also seeks to fund water and sanitation, agriculture, education and health projects.

Southern Africa, said Mr. Kastberg, was the region with the highest number of orphans, some 2.3 million.  There was an increase in the number of households where children were being left without parents.  Hundreds of thousands of people were selling what they had just to survive.  The current appeal, which represented the strongest engagement of non-governmental organizations and the Red Cross with the United Nations so far, involved a greater emphasis on the distribution of seeds and fertilizers, as well as on education and water.  In many cases, it was often girls that dropped out of school to help families get essential elements, such as water. 

HIV/AIDS, he stated, was affecting 33 per cent of the population in southern Africa.  There were severe difficulties due to the weakness of the economically active population.  Women, in particular, did not have the energy to do their normal tasks.  In addition, teachers, doctors and government employees were dying out and essential services were running out.  Human resources replenishment to maintain life-saving and basic services was an important issue.  Donors were urged to take the consequences of HIV/AIDS in all sectors into consideration.

He added that Zimbabwe represented a particular challenge, as it was not used to dealing with the high malnutrition levels now being seen. 

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