THE US and EU imposed sanctions have caught up with Zimbabweans making love as local hospitals continue to run short of family planning pills to stop unwanted pregnancies.
The sensational claims were made Tuesday by Reverend Alexia Kuona, president of Zimbabwe Empowerment Trust (ZET) in an interview .
Kuona is also a member of the Council of Elders.
“Most women here have unwanted pregnancies because the country’s health institutions are failing to buy and supply family planning drugs because of the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the Western countries.
“Some even die while giving birth because the sanctions have affected the health institutions in the country to an extent that they (authorities) are unable to buy machines and replace the obsolete ones,” Kuona said.
Because of the effects of the sanctions, Kuona said, some desperate Zimbabwean women have turned to prostitution to try and make ends meet.
“Prostitution is the last resort as companies have either shut down or relocated to other countries because of the sanctions,” she said.
She added, “Some men no longer go to work, leaving the burden of fending for the family in the hands of women,” she said.
The US and the EU slapped a travel embargo and asset freeze on then State President Robert Mugabe, his inner circle and some associated firms 2001 and 2003 for allegedly suppressing democracy and rights abuses in the country.
The Zanu PF led administration insists it was being targeted by Western powers for daring to grab vast tracts of fertile land from the hands of white Zimbabweans of European descent for redistribution to landless black locals.
