Zimbabwe

Link to HNO (not available yet)

 Despite the country experiencing a severe 2023/2024 El Niño-induced drought with its peak hunger period from January to March 2025—the worst since 2015/2016—treatment of severe wasting among children aged 6 to 59 months remained stable throughout 2024. Between January and March 2025, admissions for severe wasting moderately increased, followed by a decline from April to June 2025. However, average monthly admissions during this period remained significantly lower than those recorded during the 2015/2016 El Niño event and its aftermath in 2017. A major difference in nutrition programming since 2016/17 has been the nation-wide scale-up of the multisystem community-based model (MCBM) for prevention of all forms of malnutrition. This started in 2014 in 4 districts and was scaled up from 2016 onwards and is now operational in all 60 districts through the District Food and Nutrition Security Committees (functional to varying degrees in all 60 districts) and the network of community-based Care Groups that has become more formalized and has expanded since 2018 when the first National Care Group Guidelines were introduced.

Between January and June 2025, a total of 1,217,656 children aged 6–59 months (634,308 girls and 583,348 boys) were screened for wasting using MUAC, surpassing the annual target of 1,196,709. Of these, 7,387 children (4,183 girls and 3,204 boys) were identified and treated for wasting. Through UNICEF support, a total of 733,277 (375,150 girls and 358,127 boys) children aged 6 -59 months received vitamin A supplementation. During the same period, 458,501 female caregivers of children aged 0–23 months received Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) counselling, reaching 99 percent of the annual target of 393,501 (DHIS2). With funding from the Health Resilience Fund (HRF), UNICEF ensured a steady national pipeline of ready to use therapeutic food (RUTF) for treatment of wasting, without any pipeline breaks

UNICEF and the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) continued to co-lead monthly nutrition sector coordination meetings which strengthened collaboration among partners and ensured alignment of efforts to improve nutrition emergency preparedness and response. With funding from the Government of Japan, UNICEF and MoHCC advanced the implementation of Bebbo application locally called Rerai Umntwana, a mobile parenting application designed to support early childhood development. The app provides parents with evidence-based information and interactive tools to promote children’s nutrition, health, and developmental milestones from birth to six years.

UNICEF also contributed to national efforts to address child wasting under the Global Action Plan (GAP). The official launch of the Global Action Plan and the updated Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM) guidelines are planned for the end of August 2025, and this will mark a significant step toward improving the prevention, early detection, and treatment of wasting. To support early identification, UNICEF facilitated intensified Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) screening across 38 high-priority districts. The screening period, initially planned to end in March 2025, was extended to June to capture post-harvest season trends. Results showed a consistently low and stable average proxy Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) prevalence of under 3 percent across the 38 districts.

UNICEF also collaborated closely with World Food Programme (WFP) and other UN agencies to strengthen the integration of social protection interventions under the WFP Lean Season Assistance programme with nutrition initiatives, such as Care Groups and mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) screening for children under five years of age. Furthermore, UNICEF supported the Food and Nutrition Council (FNC) in data collection for the 2025 rural and urban Zimbabwe Livelihoods Assessment Committee (ZIMLAC) with results awaiting publication.

Link to HRP 2021

• The financial requirements of the nutrition sector in Zimbabwe have not been met thereby crippling the emergency response. 

• Although nutrition commodities were generally available at the national level, there were challenges of inconsistent distribution and supply chain with some facilities reporting stock-outs of RUTF and MNPs, hence the need for stronger liaison with the logistics team at Provincial and National levels.