Mugabe, Zimbabwe, Children and HIV - Part 1 (of 10)

Zim dollars now come in ten million dollar bills, worth approximately ten dollars. If you find yourself with one, spend it quickly, as it expires within months.

There is a lot of talk about Zimbabwe these days. Robert Mugabe was once seen as a refreshing thinker, an embodiment of the hope for a peaceful, integrated postcolonial democracy. His country was the breadbasket of southern Africa and by any account a developmental success story. Now, Mugabe is referred to by many as “Crazy Bob” and, by most all accounts, the country is inching toward the precipice of war.

Mugabe’s journey from hero to villain to pariah led his nation on a similar journey, and now a millionaire in Zimbabwean dollars is approximately a one-aire in US dollars. There is no "Dollar Store" in Zimbabwe, for it takes ten thousand Zim dollars to buy just one penny.

Botswana, where I currently live, is one of Zimbabwe’s neighbors. Zimbabwe is a common topic of conversation here and has been for decades (well before Mr. Mugabe became Crazy Bob). While cultural commentary on this new site will be no means be limited to the topic of Zimbabwe, this is the first of a series of entries focused on this nation in particular.

The reason for this is simple: I am not an economist or political scientist. I am a pediatrician. The media coverage of the inflation and the election are interesting, but one must not forget that HIV in Zimbabwe kills over 40% of the children that die before five years of age (see histogram below). Violence is a very effective killer, but HIV is better. When we tally the lives lost after Zimbabwe recovers, I assert that the number will depend more on the preservation and resilience of the country's public health infrastructure than it will on exchange rates, party politics, machete's or bullets.

Last week, I was in Zimbabwe visiting Victoria Falls, and, as I boarded a Zambezi riverboat, a group of Zimbabwean men in traditional attire were singing a song that, when translated, has as its chorus, “Hard times don’t kill.”

Alas, this is untrue.