HARARE: The United Nations Monday launched an appeal for 378 million dollars in aid to Zimbabwe, saying the country's humanitarian crisis has eased but that the situation remains fragile. "This is a critical moment for the UN and partners to support both humanitarian and recovery activities in Zimbabwe," UN assistant secretary general for humanitarian affairs Catherine Bragg said addressing a news conference in Harare. "Although the country's humanitarian situation has improved, it remains fragile," she said. The aid request, which covers operations by the UN as well as aid agencies, would help feed 1.9 million people who are expected to need food before the next harvest in April. Six million people, nearly half the population, need basic water and sanitation services, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said. Additional, 1.2 million people with HIV and 1.6 million orphans also need assistance, OCHA added. The request amounts to almost half the 719 million dollars that the UN sought last year at the height of Zimbabwe's crisis, when half the population needed food aid and a cholera epidemic swept the country, killing 4,200 people. About 64 percent of that request was funded, OCHA said. Bragg said that political changes in Zimbabwe have helped ease the humanitarian crisis. Since the formation of the unity government of long-ruling President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the former opposition leader, hospitals have re-opened and basic services have improved. But the recovery still has far to go, after much of Zimbabwe's basic infrastructure fell apart during a decade of political crisis and economic freefall.