IFRC launches US $61.9 million appeal

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) urgently needs US $61.9 million to help about 1.3 million cope with the double blow of HIV/AIDS and food shortages in Southern Africa. Working with the World Food Programme (WFP), the organisation would directly target 750,000 households affected by HIV/AIDS, a disease which is accelerated by poor nutrition and drains the resources of already struggling households, the IFRC said at the launch of its appeal on Monday. Money raised for the emergency programme would assist households headed by children - many of whom have been orphaned by the pandemic and forced to drop out of school to find work - women and the elderly. The IFRC said the appeal would focus on Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Swaziland and besides much needed food, would also provide sanitation, water, seeds and agricultural inputs. A fleet of over 200 trucks, provided by the Norwegian government and Norwegian Red Cross, would be in place towards the end of August to provide vital logistical support to the WFP operation which is targeting over 10.2 million of the 12.8 million people affected by the regional food crisis. In return for this support, WFP would provide the food needed for the ICRC beneficiaries - over 50 percent of whom are children. The ICRC would also use part of the money raised in the appeal to procure emergency stocks to keep as a back up in case any of the NGOs involved in the relief operation have temporary shortages. In countries like Lesotho, where the terrain is mountainous and roads are occasionally snowed in, arrangements have been made to hire donkeys and horses to transport food during the winter to 113,000 beneficiaries in the remote districts of Thaba-Tseka and Mokhotlong. The Malawi Red Cross Society (MRCS) hoped to reach 258,000 people as an implementing partner of the WFP/NGO consortium, as well as conducting its own distribution of agricultural starter-boxes of non-food items. They would distribute food to 108,000 child, female and adult-headed households and 150,000 people would receive seeds and agricultural tools. In Swaziland, which has an HIV/AIDS rate of 34 percent, the Baphalali Swaziland Red Cross Society's programme includes providing supplementary food to up to 5,000 children for six months and distributing 3,500 rations to 700 HIV/AIDS-affected people receiving home-based care. The operation would also support the running of three Red Cross clinics by supplying free essential drugs to benefit up to 20,000 patients. In Zambia, where up to 30 percent of adults have HIV/AIDS, the local Red Cross plans to reach 157,000 people affected by the disease, focusing on home-based care and families headed by children and the elderly. In Zimbabwe, which is experiencing its worst food crisis in 50 years, 105,000 beneficiaries would benefit from nutritional and hygiene support to home-based care initiatives and to families affected by the disease. Within these programmes, about 1,000 families living under extreme conditions would receive an additional package of seeds, fertiliser and some livestock. In South Africa, IFRC aims to implement a contingency plan for the possible mass movement of people across the border from Zimbabwe, and refugee camp preparedness. This would include setting up offices and training volunteers in disaster management. The IFRC would also conduct water and sanitation programmes, essential to preventing illnessess like cholera and diarrhoea which strike when people are malnourished. For more details: http://www.ifrc.org