Zimbabwe Crisis Briefing (Alernet.org)

Hit by drought, HIV/AIDS and economic meltdown, Zimbabwe is in the grip of its worst humanitarian crisis since independence.

• Female life expectancy 43 years
• Agriculture devastated
• World's highest inflation

Twenty years ago the country was hailed as an African success story and dubbed the "breadbasket" of southern Africa. Now it has one of the lowest life expectancies in the world, and a large proportion of the population is dependent on food aid.

Farming is the backbone of Zimbabwe's economy, but agriculture has been crippled by the combined effects of drought, HIV/AIDS and controversial government land reforms.
Unemployment is sky-high and galloping inflation has made basic foodstuffs, fuel, health and school unaffordable for many. Millions of Zimbabweans have fled to neighbouring countries.
Zimbabwe's crisis escalated when efforts to forge a power-sharing government - following disputed presidential elections in March 2008 - ended in deadlock.

The impasse was resolved in early 2009 and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was sworn in as prime minister with Robert Mugabe remaining president. The new unity government now faces the challenge of putting the country back on its feet.
Key facts

Percentage of population malnourished 45 percent ( WFP)
No. displaced More than 880,000 (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 2007)
Percentage of people living on less than $2 a day 83 percent (U.N. Human Development Report 2007/2008)

For more in depth information: http://www.alertnet.org/db/crisisprofiles/ZW_CRI.htm?v=in_detail