ActionAid already spends over £1million a year on support for farmers and those living with HIV and Aids. We are now expanding that work into water sanitation, health and cholera response. We are providing hygiene awareness training and distributing water purification tablets and hygiene kits consisting of jerry cans, soap and cotton wool.

Make a donation to ActionAid's Zimbabwe crisis appeal.

Basic services have broken down

ActionAid has launched an appeal to provide support to more than 120,000 people in Zimbabwe in a very challenging humanitarian situation. All basic services have broken down, including food security, clean water provision, health care and education.

Lack of food is becoming a key problem as we enter the peak hunger period of December to March. It is estimated that over 5.1 million Zimbabweans – nearly half the population – will be in need of food aid by the end of January 2009.

Cholera has spread to nine out of Zimbabwe’s ten provinces. Hundreds have died and the UN predicts up to 60,000 cases. Families are drinking and washing from sewage-infected pools and shallow wells because the sanitation system has completely collapsed. Many major hospitals have closed and clinics in rural areas have few, if any, drugs.

Education is also near to collapse. As teachers and support staff leave to seek other sources of income, children have been unable to take end of year exams.

Make a donation to ActionAid's Zimbabwe crisis appeal