UN Agencies Launch $530 Million Appeal for Southern Africa

Today, UN agencies launched a new $530 million emergency appeal for aid to southern Africa. At a simultaneous launch in Geneva and Johannesburg, UN officials cited the need for food to keep 6.5 million people alive, most of them in Zimbabwe. The appeal, which calls for aid to Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, Lesotho and Swaziland, will focus on food and on combating the effects of HIV/AIDS in the region. "Not only is HIV/AIDS killing millions of people prematurely, but it is also wiping out its most productive members like farmers, teachers and health workers, leaving millions of orphans," said James Morris, UN special envoy for humanitarian aid in the region. "The world cannot afford to avert its gaze from southern Africa right now. If it does we will see an accelerated and irreversible unraveling of societies in the region."

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