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Dozens die of hunger in Zim
08/04/2004 13:40 - (SA)
Harare - Sixty-three people, 48 of them children, died from hunger last month in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo, a health official was quoted as saying in a newspaper report on Friday.
A top health official in the city, Zanele Hwalima, told the Zimbabwe Independent that "poverty, food shortages and inability to access nutrients" contributed to the deaths.
Health officials in Bulawayo were not immediately available to confirm the figures.
Aid agencies estimate that about 5.5 million Zimbabweans - 2.5 million of them in urban areas - need emergency food aid this year.
The United Nations last week appealed for close to $100m to meet "massive humanitarian needs" in Zimbabwe caused by economic hardships, chronic food shortages and the Aids pandemic.
Zimbabwe is reeling under severe hardships with inflation hovering at over 600 percent, high unemployment and critical shortages of food, medicine and fuel.
- AFP
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