By Moyiga Nduru
JOHANNESBURG, Mar 18 2005 (IPS)

Carol Bellamy’s final trip to Africa as head of the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, has been overshadowed by what she terms the “stark contrast” between aid given to Zimbabwe – and that received by other African countries in need, especially those in Southern Africa.

Carol Bellamy, UNICEF's outgoing executive director. (Photo: Themba Hadebe) Credit: PictureNET Africa

The Harare government has also clamped down on freedom of assembly and the independent press in recent years, and there are few hopes that upcoming parliamentary elections – scheduled for Mar. 31 – will be free and fair.

“It is not exactly breaking news that Zimbabwe is not the most favoured nation for donor assistance,” Bellamy told journalists at a press conference in South Africa’s commercial hub, Johannesburg, Thursday.

However, UNICEF maintains that reduced donor assistance to Zimbabwe is simply taking a toll on the most vulnerable members of society who have already been put at risk by the HIV pandemic that is sweeping through the country.

“Despite (having) the world’s fourth worst rate of HIV/AIDS, and a 50 percent increase in child mortality rates since 1990, Zimbabwe is receiving a mere fraction of the assistance being received by neighbouring countries,” Bellamy said.

According to the agency, Zimbabwe was awarded little or no funding in the past year by the most important of the donor-funded programmes set up to combat AIDS: the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (better known by its acronym, PEPFAR), the World Bank’s Multi-Country HIV/AIDS Programme for Africa, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

As a result, it adds, Zambia – which has a lower HIV prevalence than Zimbabwe – receives 187 dollars per HIV-positive person annually, compared to four dollars per person in Zimbabwe. (The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS puts HIV prevalence in Zimbabwe at 24.6 percent, and that in Zambia at 16.5 percent.)

The regional average for spending on HIV by the three main AIDS initiatives is said to be 74 dollars per HIV-positive person, (Southern Africa is the area most affected by AIDS globally). Further north, Uganda receives 319 dollars per HIV-positive person, and Eritrea 802 dollars per person.

UNICEF says AIDS is now the primary killer of children under five in Zimbabwe, and that infant mortality is 70 percent higher than it would be in the absence of AIDS. Every 15 minutes, a child dies of AIDS in Zimbabwe.

HIV is also creating a generation of orphans in the country. The U.N. children’s agency says Zimbabwe now has 1.3 million orphans, one million of whom lost their parents to AIDS-related diseases.

“Every day children in Zimbabwe are dying of HIV/AIDS, every day children are infected, orphaned, and forced to leave school to care for sick parents,” observed Bellamy.

Economic mismanagement – including a problematic land reform programme, and substantial expenditure to support Zimbabwe’s involvement in the five-year Congolese civil war – have undermined Harare’s ability to meet the social needs of its citizens.

But, in response to questions about whether increased aid to Zimbabwe would serve to bolster the country’s repressive government, Bellamy said donors needed to “look for other ways to make (their) point” about the need for improved governance.

“Don’t take it out on children,” she added.

According to UNICEF, Zimbabwe also lags behind other countries in Southern Africa as far as overall donor funding is concerned.

In a press release issued Thursday, the agency quoted World Bank figures showing that the country currently receives about 14 dollars per person in aid annually – substantially less than Namibia at 68 dollars per capita, and Mozambique (111 dollars).

UNICEF officials at the press briefing also fielded queries about whether increased aid would reach those for whom it was intended. This follows concerns that food aid sent to Zimbabwe has been diverted for political ends.

While admitting that the risk of diversion is ever-present, the agency believes the aid it dispenses in Zimbabwe is less easily re-routed than might be the case for food supplies.

Despite limitations on its resources, UNICEF is providing support and counselling to 100,000 orphaned children, and assisting in vaccination against measles, amongst other initiatives.

While in Johannesburg, Bellamy also had the opportunity to meet former South African president Nelson Mandela and his wife Graca Machel – a leading advocate in the fight for children’s rights.

The UNICEF head is scheduled to leave her post in April after a decade at the helm of the agency. No executive director is allowed to serve more than two five-year terms at UNICEF.

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