Unicef said the situation in several eastern and southern African countries was “dire”, with at least 45 million children facing severe food insecurity, made worse by climate change.
Millions of people are experiencing multiple and often overlapping crises, exacerbated by the 2023-24 El Niño weather phenomenon, Eva Kadilli, UNICEF regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa, said in a statement This phenomenon is one of the worst weather phenomena on record.
Christian Rudert, UNICEF’s nutrition adviser for East and Southern Africa, told VOA that many countries in her region have very high rates of stunting or severe malnutrition among children. That rate is getting worse due to extreme weather patterns associated with climate change, such as prolonged heat waves and droughts, she said.
“In Malawi, for example, data from routine nutrition programs show a worsening of children’s nutritional status and an increase in hospital admissions for acute malnutrition as a result of the current El Niño phenomenon,” Rudert said. “Children in almost half of 21 countries are at highest risk from the impacts of climate change. Even small gains in nutrition are now being reversed before our eyes.”
UNICEF is trying to help children and their families learn how to cope with climate change through schools, said Wangani Grace Taolo, UNICEF’s regional education adviser for Eastern and Southern Africa.
“UNICEF is working with partners, especially governments, to [other] UN agencies, civil society and communities integrate climate education into education systems, especially in the areas of infrastructure, use of renewable energy and waste management,” Taulo said.
“Let me mention Zimbabwe, we are working with the government on the Clean Green Schools Initiative,” Taulo added, “Every aspect of the climate change strategy is really integrated into how we deliver education from schools to communities and create an ecosystem will be able to cope with the effects of climate change.”
While this may help southern Africa in the long term, many Zimbabweans are worried about their situation in the here and now.
Elita Ncube said her family lived in poverty and her three children struggled to go to school because they had irregular meals.
She said there was nothing to eat in the fields. She said she used to make a living selling mopan bugs, but this year she had nothing to sell. She said her goats and cows would die without water for her animals.
She added that Ncube had had some donors provide food and she hoped they would come back or at least let her do some work in exchange for the food.
Social Welfare Minister Juli Moyo said on Tuesday that the Zimbabwean government would not rush to join Malawi and Zambia in declaring the current drought a national disaster.
Moyo said there was no scientific reason to declare a disaster.
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