UN appeals for $378 million for food and medicine for Zimbabwe emergency recovery program

UN seeking $378M for food, medicine in Zimbabwe

HARARE, Zimbabwe — The United Nations is appealing for $378 million for Zimbabwe to buy food and medicines and bolster health, education and sanitation in the economically crippled country.

U.N. deputy emergency aid chief Catherine Bragg said Monday at least 1.9 million Zimbabweans will need food aid in the first three months of 2010. Millions of others remain vulnerable from the erosion of basic services and livelihoods.

The U.N. also warned that cholera cases are re-emerging during the current rainy season. The water-borne disease killed more than 4,200 people last year.

Bragg said some services have improved under a 10-month-old coalition government, saying Zimbabwe is moving “from a humanitarian crisis to an emergency recovery program.”