Impact of humanitarian crisis on children

The outlook for children caught up in Southern Africa's humanitarian crisis is especially bleak. In addition to continued worries about their food security, at least four million children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS, with child-headed households bearing the brunt of the crisis. The latest UNICEF report on the southern African crisis said that in the absence of adult caregivers, these children are particularly vulnerable to exploitation, abuse and HIV infection. The crisis was also reflected in the deterioration of a previous improvement in child malnutrition rates. Zambia has registered the highest number of orphans in the world, while in Swaziland the numbers of orphans are estimated to have doubled between 2000 and 2002. In Zimbabwe, girls, especially those from child-headed households, have been forced into commercial sex, early marriage or child labour, as a means of survival, the report said. A recent UNICEF nutrition review showed that nutritional status was worse among children who are orphaned, and the current HIV/AIDS pandemic would directly and indirectly increase child malnutrition. In addition to concern about the impact of HIV/AIDS, UNICEF was also working to prevent children from dropping out of school due to food shortages. It was supporting school feeding programmes, providing school materials and rehabilitating water and sanitation facilities throughout the region. A survey conducted in Zambia in October last year found drop-out rates as high as 40 percent in the drought-affected Southern province. To counter this, UNICEF and its partners, including the World Food Programme and the Ministry of Education, are starting a pilot project combining school feeding, water and sanitation rehabilitation, HIV/AIDS education and life-skills training. In Mozambique, considered one of the worst-off countries, educational kits have been provided for 240,000 children and 6,200 teachers in drought-affected districts. Up to 60 water points will be installed in Sofala, Manica, Tete and Zambezia provinces in the centre of the country. These measures are in addition to supplementary and therapeutic feeding programmes reaching 80,000 women and children under the age of five, and a new partnership agreement which will expand the programme to nursing mothers and almost 200,000 children aged under five, UNICEF said.