In times of tightening national budgets as a result of structural adjustment requirements, the need to make choices in a country’s publicly-funded social protection programme is heightened. A greater understanding of the patterns and causes of morbidity and mortality in Zimbabwe s urban areas forms an important basis for designing an effective social protection policy and programmes that may have a positive impact on the welfare of the urban poor. This study assesses the prevalence of morbidity and mortality in some low-income suburbs of Zimbabwe. Results indicate that the reported leading causes of long illness and death were predominantly AIDS related. This calls for social policies and programmes to integrate HIV/AIDS prevention and improve access to treatment for the poor. The study revealed that households are heavily dependent on informal forms of support to help them cope with adult morbidity and mortality. Policies aimed at strengthening these informal sources of support can help foster the well-being of poor families. Lower-income households are less likely to make use of nation-wide public support programmes. The resultant policy implication is that public social support schemes such as health and education support and employment guarantee schemes should be intensified and expanded to generate substantial positive welfare effects by complementing informal resources.
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