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Save the Children: Give now to help Zimbabwe's children

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Tuesday, 16, Sep 2008 12:00

Save the Children launches £5m appeal following power-sharing deal.

International aid agency Save the Children is urgently appealing for donations to help thousands of children in Zimbabwe who are suffering from deteriorating health and rising levels of malnutrition.

Save the Children is scaling up its work after a five-month operating ban was lifted last month and the power-sharing agreement was signed on Monday, giving aid agencies new confidence. The emergency response will aim to reach at least 80,000 children.

Rachel Pounds, Save the Children’s Zimbabwe Country Director, said: “Children in Zimbabwe are in desperate need of help, and it has been incredibly frustrating for Save the Children's teams not to be able to get it to them. With working conditions gradually improving in the country, we will now be able to reach children we couldn’t reach before with vital food and medicines.

“We urgently need more money now so we can reach more children more quickly. Every donation can make a real difference. Together we now have the chance to give thousands of Zimbabwean children a better future."

To make a donation to Save the Children’s Zimbabwe Appeal please visit www.savethechildren.org.uk or call 020 7012 6400

Ms Pounds continued: “The most pressing need for children is food. More than five million people will be in need of food aid by the end of this year and at least half of them are children. The health system has collapsed so sick children are unable to get healthcare. Many children are out of school either because they can’t afford to go, because they need to spend the day working to support the family or looking for food or because the teachers have not turned up as they can’t afford the journey to work.”

Save the Children’s work will aim to include distributing food to around 142,000 people and ensuring that malnourished children receive proper care and treatment. It will also include supporting families to grow their own crops and earn a living, getting children into school, providing clean water, and providing healthcare and nutrition education to parents and carers.

What your donation could buy:

  • £10 could buy a piglet to help a family to provide for itself

  • £24 can feed a malnourished child for 2 months with a supply of special high nutrient peanut butter

    Save the Children has been in Zimbabwe for 25 years, working in the Zambezi Valley, the poorest and driest area of Zimbabwe, as well as in five urban areas.

    For interviews with spokespeople in Zimbabwe or Zimbabwe experts in London, please contact the media unit on +44 (0)20 7012 6841 or +44 7831 650 409 (out of hours)

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