For immediate release 3 December 2008

Save the Children New Zealand has announced that it will be sending NZD $60,000 to support the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe.

Following on from the disputed election run-offs between Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe has been in a worsening state of decline.

10 million people, out of a population of 13 million live below the poverty line. Up to 5.1 million people will be in need of food aid to survive by the end of the year. One in 10 children in Zimbabwe die before the age of five, although with rocketing rates of malnutrition and disease, the child mortality rate will also rise.

A deadly outbreak of anthrax is threatening to wipe out at least 60,000 livestock in Zimbabwe's northern Zambezi Valley. 32 cases of human anthrax have been reported in the Binga district. This figure is expected to rise.

On top of the anthrax outbreak comes reports of increasing cholera infections which have already killed hundreds of people. Zimbabwe is also in the midst of an economic crisis due to hyperinflation. On 14 November 2008 the Cato Institute released a document estimating that Zimbabwe's monthly inflation rate to be 79.6 billion percent. This is equivalent to prices doubling every 24 hours.

Save the Children launched a global appeal on 1 December 2008 to raise money for the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe. With increased resources, Save the Children's emergency team will be responding to the anthrax and cholera outbreaks by helping to vaccinate cows from anthrax, training health workers, providing food so that safe treatment camps can be set up, and educating communities how to avoid infection.

As well as setting up food programmes the aid organisation is also helping families prepare for the future by distributing seeds, small livestock and helping to set up vegetable gardens.

Philip Abraham, Acting Executive Director for Save the Children New Zealand says: "The humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe has reached unprecedented proportions which is why Save the Children has launched a global appeal for donations. We have been working in Zimbabwe for 25 years and have expertise in operating effective programmes within the country. We know we can save lives; we just need the resources to do it".

To make a donation to support Save the Children's work in Zimbabwe please: Visit www.savethechildren.org.nz or call our donation line 0800 167 168

ENDS

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