EC aid package to help vulnerable families

The European Commission (EC) has provided a €13 million (US $14.9 million) humanitarian aid package to support vulnerable people affected by drought and food shortages in Zimbabwe. The funds provided by the Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office, ECHO, are intended to help improve nutrition, food, water and sanitation levels, and combat HIV/AIDS, according to an EC statement released this week. The projects, to be implemented by ECHO's partners working in the field, will provide supplementary, therapeutic and school feeding to over 600,000 children throughout the country, which has been hit by serious food shortages. Nearly 300,000 farming households will be supported with agricultural inputs including seeds, tools and fertilisers, and over 100,000 orphans and vulnerable children will receive assistance. The funds will also be used to rehabilitate water and sanitation systems in rural communities; combat the spread of HIV/AIDS through awareness raising; the prevention of mother-to-child transmission; and nutritional support for orphans and children headed-households. To maximise the impact of this humanitarian aid, the commission will maintain an ECHO support office in Harare to appraise project proposals, coordinate and monitor commission-financed operations, and offer technical and logistical assistance. ECHO has committed €29.2 million (US $33.3) to combating the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe since 2001, the statement said.