An in-depth Study on the impacts of Operation Murambatsvina 2.2 Health and HIV/AIDS With any massive displacement, and especially in the context of a complex emergency, health issues are a major concern. In the second survey, a number of issues related to health were canvassed, and these gave considerable cause for concern, as summarized below: - - - - - Health: Slightly over 25% of people interviewed attributed the deterioration of health of their loved ones as a direct result of the Operation. Food security: Approximately, 54% of households sampled claimed that they had become food insecure as a consequence of the Operation. Being urban areas, most of the food supply to the family is sourced from the market. Disruption of family unit: More than 75% of the respondents reported losing shelter, and another 40% of homesteads visited reported that family units had been disrupted as a result of the Operation. Mostly children and spouses had been relocated to the rural homesteads or other suburbs if this was possible. Increased vulnerability for women, children and orphans: 35% of the interviewed homesteads acknowledged that women and children had become more vulnerable to abuse as a consequence of the Operation. Furthermore, a high proportion of these were from female-headed households. Loss of quality care (Home Based Care): The national average from the households sampled was 14% of the respondents claiming that they had lost HBC. When this data was further disaggregated to capture households hosting the chronically ill (?), it resulted in a subsequent increase to 40%. This could a result from HBC providers and recipients being dislocated by the Operation. Loss of Comprehensive treatment (ARVs): Approximately 15% of surveyed households reportedly had lost ARV treatment as a result of the Operation. Of these, 35% were households that had mentioned hosting chronically ill individuals. Clearly, the public health consequences of displacing enormous numbers of people can be extremely serious: apart from the more obvious effects around disease, in a country like Zimbabwe with a very high number of persons suffering from HIV/AIDS, an additional number of concerns that must be addressed. Surprisingly, the health consequences of Operation Murambatsvina have drawn little adverse comment from local professional bodies, apart from the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights [ZADHR] which has issued several public statements. In the first, ZADHR made a strong appeal to the Ministry of Health to take the necessary steps consonant with its mandate to look after citizens’ health: ZADHR urges the ministry of Health and Child Welfare to exert whatever influence it has on its partners at the most senior levels of government to halt these abuses and immediately institute an effective program of restitution which, at the minimum ensures that those affected be properly re-housed and nourished. 8