Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s economic productivity has plummeted in the last decade as a result of disastrous economic policies and politically driven violence. By 2008 Zimbabwe had the lowest life expectancy in the world at just 42 years, and was ranked 169 out of 169 countries in the Human Development Index. However, in recent years there has been modest economic recovery following a power-sharing agreement between President Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in 2009, which has fostered moderate improvements in political stability.

The humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe remains fragile, however, and structural weaknesses in the agricultural sector and markets, combined with increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, leave the country particularly vulnerable to food crises. Long-term under-investment in the health sector and a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS also leave Zimbabwe vulnerable to a high disease burden and outbreaks. Zimbabwe experienced a severe drought affecting 2.1 million people in 2007, a cholera outbreak and food crises in 2008 and 2010.

A high proportion (39.8%) of official development assistance (ODA) to Zimbabwe was received as humanitarian aid in the ten-year period between 2000 and 2009.