Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe remains in the grip of severe food insecurity due to prolonged drought, climate-related shocks, and a deteriorating economy. Fewer than 20% of infants and toddlers receive a minimally adequate diet, which sets the stage for child hunger and malnutrition.

How Child Champions Are Helping Children in Poverty in Zimbabwe

Through OneChild’s Children’s Crisis Fund, families in Zimbabwe receive disaster relief including emergency food relief supplies, and families who are struggling day-to-day receive vitamins, supplies, and food baskets. At their Hope Centers, children regularly receive nutritious meals and snacks.

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Only about a third of Zimbabwe’s population has access to clean water and improved sanitation. Drinking from contaminated water sources leads to sometimes deadly illnesses such as cholera, diarrhea, giardia, and respiratory infections.

How Child Champions Are Helping Children in Poverty in Zimbabwe

Kids enrolled at Hope Centers have access to clean water and also are taught good hygiene practices to avoid preventable illnesses. Most Hope Centers have a well that pumps clean water from a borehole and makes it available not only to the kids, but to the community as well.

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Obstacles to children getting an education in Zimbabwe include poverty, abuse, remoteness of villages, poor infrastructure, lack of teachers, and cultural norms such as marrying off girls at a young age. Without an education, kids get stuck in a generational cycle of poverty.

How Child Champions Are Helping Children in Poverty in Zimbabwe

Many Hope Centers are schools, where children are instructed in a range of subjects and skills. In communities where schools are in place, Child Champions often tutor children at their Hope Centers to make sure they don’t fall behind in their studies. And through OneChild’s Partners Fund, Child Champions provide children with school and other supplies to make sure they are well equipped for school.

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Rural residents in Zimbabwe must walk an average of 6 to 30 miles over rough roads to access health care services. And many health care facilities in the country face a shortage of medical supplies, equipment, doctors, and nurses. The poorest people suffer the most with preventable illnesses such as chronic malnutrition, malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS. About 1 in 11 children in Zimbabwe dies before his or her fifth birthday because of lack of proper health care.

How Child Champions Are Helping Children in Poverty in Zimbabwe

Children receive health screenings at their Hope Centers and medicines and care when needed. Generous supporters of OneChild’s Children’s Crisis Fund also donate for surgeries and care that go beyond day-to-day health needs. Kids are taught good hygiene practices to avoid preventable illnesses, and families are taught best practices to keep mosquitoes at bay.

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