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Malawi, Zimbabwe and Zambia are the most severely affected by the crisis but it is also affecting people in Mozambique, Swaziland, Namibia and Lesotho.
In a region already struggling with chronic poverty, the combination of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, a volatile climate and weak governance has increased families’ vulnerability and limited the amount of food available to them.
Malawi has just experienced its worst harvest in more than a decade due to erratic rainfall and, elsewhere, low yields have increased the price of staple foods.
The IFRC is making preparations for a major appeal to be launched later this month to respond to immediate as well as longer-term needs across southern Africa. This will enable the Red Cross to scale up its support to the region to prevent the situation deteriorating further. The programme will focus in particular on delivering food aid and agricultural support to people living with HIV/AIDS, orphans, the chronically ill, elderly, disabled and pregnant women.
Supported by the British Red Cross, national Red Cross societies throughout the region are already engaged in long-term assistance programmes to improve people’s resilience to crisis. These have focused on home-based care for people living with HIV and AIDS, provision of clean water and sanitation, food interventions, health programmes and irrigation schemes for very poor households.
In Zimbabwe, for example, the British Red Cross supports a programme to protect the livelihoods of some 18,000 people living with HIV and AIDS, including children orphaned or made vulnerable by the pandemic. This programme, like other Red Cross programmes in those countries currently affected by food shortages, is a vital means of reaching those most in need, including the chronically ill and elderly.
Diane Moody, southern Africa expert at the British Red Cross, said: “There is a crisis affecting the whole region but particularly Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia. Through national societies in southern Africa we are well placed to respond to people’s immediate and long-term humanitarian needs.”
She added: “Red Cross staff and volunteers in those countries affected must be supported to continue to respond to a complex situation.”
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