Aid agencies and NGOs met with the Zimbabwean government on 1 September following the lifting of the ban on field operations put in place on 4 June. Under ?operation modalities? stipulated by the Zimbabwean government all aid agencies and local NGOs are required to share their registration information in areas where they are operational and complete a ?monitoring and evaluation? form.

Charles Abani, regional Oxfam director, said: ?Oxfam recognizes the importance of transparency and accountability. However, we hope that this process is not used to constrain actions or actors who support the needs of poor and vulnerable people in Zimbabwe. We are also concerned that the lifting of the ban appears partial. We urge the Zimbabwean government to extend full permission to all civil society organizations to operate in Zimbabwe.?

?The impact of our work will be greatly enhanced once government grants universal access for all organizations working with affected communities in Zimbabwe.?

If food aid is not resumed, widespread hunger and worsening malnutrition will be unavoidable. Reports from the Zimbabwe Crop and Food Security Assessment indicate that without humanitarian assistance, 5.1 million people, or 43 per cent of Zimbabwe's population, will not have enough to eat by January 2009. Due to chronic underinvestment in public services infrastructure, there is also a growing risk of water- and sanitation-related diseases such as cholera.

Food insecurity is not just limited to rural areas, but is now also a real threat to poor urban families. Following the lifting of the ban, Oxfam plans to scale-up its work to assist more than 500 000 people with food aid in Midlands and Masvingo Provinces, as well as in several urban centres across the country including Harare and Bulawayo. Oxfam will also begin work on preventing diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera, brought on by deteriorating water and sanitation conditions.

?This funding will help save lives and prevent further suffering to hundreds of thousands of people in Zimbabwe,? said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. ?With the oncoming rainy season, an already devastating cholera outbreak could become catastrophic unless issues of unsafe water and sanitation are addressed.?

The funding will enhance Oxfam?s existing response by providing safe water for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene. In addition, the initiative will sensitize community members to effectively identify the disease and instruct them to seek immediate treatment when it occurs, and teach them how to prevent contamination to others. Lastly, the funding will also support community members initiating their own community based Cholera Early Warning Systems to collect data and identify potential risks to their water sources to reduce the spread of the disease.

?Immediate treatment for those affected, and the implementation of prevention measures, are critical to helping stop the further spread of this disease in Zimbabwe,? said Chip Lyons, director of Special Initiatives in the Global Development Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. ?Oxfam?s long-standing track record of responding to international emergencies make them well positioned to not only provide relief, but also to establish a foundation for community awareness around prevention.?

?Not only will this award be used for immediate response, but it will also be used for prevention,? said Ransom Mariga, head of Oxfam America?s program in Zimbabwe. ?This is especially important for the many people in Zimbabwe who are hungry and for whom cholera would be lethal.?

Cholera is a water-borne disease. This outbreak is a result of the breakdown of health, basic water and sanitation services and has already killed over 1,600 people since August and infected over 33,000 around the country, according to the World Health Organization. Zimbabweans are desperately short of food, health care, clean water and safe sanitation. In addition to the cholera outbreak, at least 3.8 million people do not have enough to eat ? going without food for days at a time. Oxfam has been responding to the humanitarian emergency through food distribution and limited water and hygiene work.

The Zimbabwean government has declared a national health emergency. Oxfam welcomed the declaration, saying that it should spur international donors to respond more urgently to the humanitarian needs.

"People have been going without enough food for months. They are hungry, weak, and vulnerable to infection. Some donors have immediately made sums available, and that will make a real difference. But this is far from enough. Unless the international community steps up to provide money for food and medical assistance immediately, the already dire situation will get much worse,? said Peter Mutoredzanwa, Country Director for Oxfam in Zimbabwe.

"Millions of people were already facing starvation. With unemployment over 80 percent, and food unavailable across the country, they now have to contend with cholera and other diseases as the water and sanitation systems break down. With the rainy season upon us, the epidemic will spread even more rapidly. Aid agencies urgently need support from the international community to scale up their efforts,? Mutoredzanwa added.

Ordinary Zimbabweans desperately need health care, clean water and sanitation. Cholera, a water-born disease, has surged due to the breakdown of city sewerage systems, poor maintenance of water supply systems, including hand pumps, severe drinking water shortages, and the lack of basic hygiene items such as soap.

?With close to half the population weakened by serious food shortages, cholera when it hits is even more likely to be lethal,? said Mutoredzanwa. ?Indications are that more than 5 million people will urgently need food aid by January.?

Oxfam is distributing 12,000 metric tons of maize meal, vegetable oil and pulses in collaboration with the World Food Program (WFP), reaching 150,000 vulnerable people. The agency?s cholera response will now be scaling up to target 615,000 people, and focusing on three of the worst hit areas: Beitbridge on the South African border; Budiriro, a suburb of Harare; and Mudzi, an area bordering Mozambique. The aid agency also plans to start moving into areas where cholera has not hit, to proactively prevent the spread of the disease.

?We are very concerned that unless donors pledge additional money now, food aid rations will have to be cut,? said Mutoredzanwa. ?No one should wait for a political solution in Zimbabwe before pledging to help—this will be too late for millions of vulnerable Zimbabweans.?