Deaths from cholera in Zimbabwe’s main cities and townships are mounting, and health, water and sanitation services have collapsed. The cholera outbreak has left over 39,000 Zimbabweans infected and over 2,000 dead, but is only one of a growing array of healthcare disasters.5 For example, 1.3 million Zimbabweans are living with HIV/AIDS, yet only 110,000 of the 480,000 people in urgent need of anti-retro-viral therapy (ART) are currently receiving it.6 Because of disruptions in the supply of drugs, food shortages, and transportation difficulties, many of those who do receive ART may not be able to consistently ensure access to their daily medicines, leading to the development of drug resistant HIV strains and treatment failure leading to premature mortality.7 With collapsing living conditions and the emerging HIV epidemic, Zimbabwe has seen a resurgence in cases of tuberculosis—six times more cases in 2008 than 20 years previously. And cure rates for those put on treatment are just 54 percent. Food Insecurity Zimbabwe has suffered from food shortages since 2000 when the Mugabe government embarked on a violent and illegal program of land seizures.8 An estimated 5.1 million Zimbabweans—half the population—are expected to need food aid in 2009.9 Food output in Zimbabwe has deteriorated drastically in the past year. The UN World Food Program (WFP) estimates that maize production in 2008 was 575,000 metric tons— 28percent below 2007’s historically low level.10 Maize is Zimbabwe’s staple but many villagers interviewed by Human Rights Watch in Mashonaland East, West, Masvingo, Midlands and Manicaland provinces said that they were either living on one meal of sadza (maize meal) a day or on wild fruit. 5 World Health Organization, Daily Cholera Updates and Alerts, January 12, 2009, http://www.who.int/hac/crises/zmb/sitreps/zimbabwe_cholera_update_12jan2009.pdf (accessed January 18, 2009). 6 UN Consolidated Appeal Process for Zimbabwe 2009, http://ochaonline.un.org/AppealsFunding/CAP2009/tabid/5120/language/en-US/Default.aspx (accessed January 12, 2009). 7 Human Rights Watch, No Bright Future: Government Failures, Human Rights Abuses, and Squandered Progress in the Fight against AIDS in Zimbabwe, July 2006, http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2006/07/27/no-bright-future. 8 Human Rights Watch, Fast Track Land Reform in Zimbabwe, March 2002, http://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/2002/zimbabwe/. 9 “Major food appeal for Zimbabwe as WFP relief distributions begin,” World Food Program press release, October 9, 2008, http://www.wfp.org/ENGLISH/?ModuleID=137&Key=2955 (accessed January 10, 2009). 10 World Food Program, Zimbabwe country page, http://www.wfp.org/country_brief/indexcountry.asp?country=716, (accessed August 11, 2008). Crisis without Limits 10