The United Nations requires a total of US$500 million to assist Zimbabwe with its humanitarian needs and it has so far raised US$85 million, The Herald reported on Thursday.

The world body will continue to assess Zimbabwe's food relief requirements and has projected that the country needs food assistance for the whole of this year, the daily newspaper quoted the visiting UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Catherine Bragg as saying.

Addressing a media conference at the end of the UN inter-agency humanitarian mission to Zimbabwe, Bragg said proper planning should be in place to ensure there would not be a recurrence of food insecurity next year.

"This is, therefore, the time to act. If we do not ensure that farmers have all the inputs they need for the next planting season, which begins in September/October, we could end up next year with a situation similar to what we have today, trying to feed up to seven million people," she said.

Bragg assured the nation that the donor community would continue to respond to the needs of the Zimbabwean people through continued assessment of the requirements.

On cholera, Bragg said despite the tremendous effort in curbing the epidemic, there were areas that had not been reached which continue to pose a threat to measures to control the outbreak.

World Health Organization director of recovery and transition Daniel Lopez Acuna said reported cholera cases dropped from around 7,000 last week to about 5,000 this week.

He said if preventive measures are intensified in the next two weeks, there should be a remarkable reduction to acceptable incidence levels in the next three to four weeks.

Bragg said this was the time to start planning the rehabilitation of basic infrastructure such as health, water supply and sanitation systems to secure an early recovery. But funding for such services remained the prerogative of the donor community.

Bragg said attention also needs to be centered on the education sector as without a sound education system, large numbers of children attending public schools, including orphans and vulnerable children, would not be able to do so.

She said all her meetings with President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Cabinet ministers and non-governmental organizations had been positive.

She said President Mugabe and Prime Minister Tsvangirai had commended the good work of the UN and donor agencies.

She expressed hope that the inclusive government would be able to ensure economic stability and revival of all social sectors.