News / National
Funding gap leaves 1,6m at risk of humanitarian shocks
23 Jul 2025 at 09:00hrs | Views
About 1.6 million people in Zimbabwe who were targeted for urgent humanitarian assistance have been left vulnerable due to significant funding gaps in critical sectors such as child protection, education, health, and shelter.
The emergency assistance programmes aimed to support 3.1 million people, but inadequate funding has severely limited their reach.
Zimbabwe has continued to face multiple humanitarian crises in early 2025, including disease outbreaks, heavy rains and floods, and a severe African armyworm infestation. These challenges compound the ongoing impacts of the worst drought in 40 years, which began in December 2023 and disrupted crop production, food availability, and livelihoods. The drought contributed to 7.6 million people needing urgent humanitarian aid in 2024, largely driven by El Nino effects.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the overall number of people requiring assistance stands at 7.1 million, with programmes targeting 3.1 million. However, only US$120 million has been received out of the US$429 million required to fund these efforts, resulting in only 1.5 million people receiving aid.
The situation has been worsened by the worst African armyworm outbreak in two decades, which affected all 10 provinces and destroyed crops in March 2025. Additionally, cholera outbreaks have been confirmed in 19 districts across seven provinces, fueled by poor access to clean water, inadequate sanitation, and limited healthcare infrastructure in densely populated areas. A resurgence of measles has also been reported nationwide, with cases in nine of the country's ten provinces.
OCHA's report highlights that funding shortages have hindered the ability of partners to scale up responses. For instance, in rural food security programmes, only 83% of the targeted 1.5 million people were reached. Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) interventions reached just over half (52.9%) of the 1.1 million people targeted.
Key hygiene behaviour change messages reached only about 20% of the 2.6 million people targeted. Nutrition programmes achieved coverage of 34.3%, reaching 503,931 individuals through blanket supplementary feeding.
In the health sector, only 21.6% of the targeted 1.5 million women and children received comprehensive primary healthcare services. Meanwhile, counselling on infant and young child feeding (IYCF) reached 42.9% of the targeted primary caregivers of children aged 0 to 23 months.
The shortfall in funding and aid delivery underscores the urgent need for increased support to prevent further deterioration of humanitarian conditions in Zimbabwe, where millions remain at risk from ongoing crises.
The emergency assistance programmes aimed to support 3.1 million people, but inadequate funding has severely limited their reach.
Zimbabwe has continued to face multiple humanitarian crises in early 2025, including disease outbreaks, heavy rains and floods, and a severe African armyworm infestation. These challenges compound the ongoing impacts of the worst drought in 40 years, which began in December 2023 and disrupted crop production, food availability, and livelihoods. The drought contributed to 7.6 million people needing urgent humanitarian aid in 2024, largely driven by El Nino effects.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the overall number of people requiring assistance stands at 7.1 million, with programmes targeting 3.1 million. However, only US$120 million has been received out of the US$429 million required to fund these efforts, resulting in only 1.5 million people receiving aid.
The situation has been worsened by the worst African armyworm outbreak in two decades, which affected all 10 provinces and destroyed crops in March 2025. Additionally, cholera outbreaks have been confirmed in 19 districts across seven provinces, fueled by poor access to clean water, inadequate sanitation, and limited healthcare infrastructure in densely populated areas. A resurgence of measles has also been reported nationwide, with cases in nine of the country's ten provinces.
OCHA's report highlights that funding shortages have hindered the ability of partners to scale up responses. For instance, in rural food security programmes, only 83% of the targeted 1.5 million people were reached. Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) interventions reached just over half (52.9%) of the 1.1 million people targeted.
Key hygiene behaviour change messages reached only about 20% of the 2.6 million people targeted. Nutrition programmes achieved coverage of 34.3%, reaching 503,931 individuals through blanket supplementary feeding.
In the health sector, only 21.6% of the targeted 1.5 million women and children received comprehensive primary healthcare services. Meanwhile, counselling on infant and young child feeding (IYCF) reached 42.9% of the targeted primary caregivers of children aged 0 to 23 months.
The shortfall in funding and aid delivery underscores the urgent need for increased support to prevent further deterioration of humanitarian conditions in Zimbabwe, where millions remain at risk from ongoing crises.
Source - Newsday
