Health
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Jasen Mphepo Little Theatre play spotlights Nakba, a genocide on Palestinian people
The play showcased at Jasen Mphepo Little Theatre last night titled ‘Chindunduma’ and directed by Tafadzwa Bob Mutumbi coincided with the commemoration of the 75th year of the Nakba, the catastrophe of ethnic cleansing, dispossession, dispersal, dehumanization, and denial of the inalienable rights for the Palestinian people. In 1948, Palestinians witnessed the traumatic loss of…
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Vice President Chiwenga officiates commemoration of World Red Cross Day
By Elvis Dumba Chinhoyi – Vice President and Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr. Constantino Chiwenga said acts of kindness need to be celebrated and honour those who are committed to improving the lives of the vulnerable. The Vice President was speaking during the belated commemoration of International Red Cross Day. “The Red Cross’s…
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MSF: Access to HIV tests uncertain as companies stop production
MSF calls on Abbott and BD to ensure an adequate supply of CD4 tests and equipment People’s access to critical HIV tests is under threat because US diagnostics corporations Abbott Laboratories and Becton Dickinson (BD) have decided to stop making equipment to run point-of-care CD4 tests, said the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins…
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MSF endorses USA’s Pharmaceutical Research Transparency Act
A new bill, the Pharmaceutical Research Transparency Act, was introduced yesterday in both the US House and Senate. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) endorses this bill as it would give people, governments, and treatment providers like MSF more leverage to negotiate fair drug prices. Currently, pharma doesn’t have to disclose how much they spend on R&D to bring new…
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152 million babies born preterm in the last decade
Of every 10 babies born, 1 is preterm – and every 40 seconds, 1 of those babies dies Preterm birth rates have not changed in the past decade in any region of the world The impacts of conflict, climate change, COVID-19 are increasing risks for women and babies everywhere Action is needed urgently to improve…
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MSF: Gilead must do more to make lifesaving drug widely available for people with HIV
As Gilead Sciences held its annual stockholders’ meeting yesterday, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) called on the US pharmaceutical corporation to finally fulfill its 2018 promise and ensure that the lifesaving drug liposomal amphotericin B (L-AmB, marketed as Ambisome) is more widely available for people with HIV who also…
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CWGH on Workers’ Day: Government must reward health workers
As the World celebrates Workers’ Day today, the Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) is calling upon the government to remunerate the health workers well and improve their working conditions to curb the current brain drain that has quickened the collapse of the sector. “Let us also make sure that health workers are provided with…
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MSF: J&J must stop blocking generic versions of lifesaving TB drug
J&J’s patent monopoly continues to keep key TB drugs out of reach Johnson & Johnson (J&J) must stop trying to extend its monopoly on tuberculosis (TB) drug bedaquiline in all countries with a high burden of TB, said the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) ahead of J&J’s annual shareholders’ meeting…
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Chiyangwa facilitates upgrade of Father O’hea Mission Hospital to General Hospital
By Elvis Dumba Kutama – Zvimba South Constituency legislator, Dr. Philip Chiyangwa has facilitated the upgrade of formerly Catholic Bishops run Father O’hea Mission Hospital to a general hospital. The 120-bed mission hospital, which was one of the best hospitals in Zvimba District and was the first institution to provide HIV treatment services that included…
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Invest more domestic funding in malaria prevention: CWGH urges government
As the world celebrates World Malaria Day on 25 April 2023! The Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) is calling on the government to invest more domestic funding in malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment supported by strengthened community-driven awareness initiatives to stop the current malaria-related illnesses and deaths. In recent years, Zimbabwe has been experiencing…
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Adam Molai Foundation Health Awareness Events set for Marondera
The Adam Molai Foundation (AMF) will hold Health and Wellness Days in Marondera on Wednesday, 26th of April, and Thursday, 27th of April 2023. The events, which will take place at Cherutombo North (Pagomo) and Marondera East (Yellow City) Seventh Day Adventist churches respectively, aim to improve attendees’ physical and mental well-being. The Health and…
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Machakaire takes fight against drug abuse to grassroots
Zanu PF Secretary for Youth Affairs Honourable Tino Machakaire is tackling drug and substance abuse at the grassroots assisting communities to desist from such practices, taking a cue from President Mnangagwa. Of late, President Mnangagwa has been compelling the youth to desist from drug and substance abuse saying Government will soon review the law on…
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President hails strengthening of health sector through public-private partnerships
By Elvis Dumba Mhondoro – President Emmerson Mnangagwa has hailed the public-private partnerships for strengthening the country’s health sector. He said this in Mhondoro, where he officially commissioned Zimplats Mine’s Mubaira Hospital Project. President Mnangagwa said the government is committed to scaling up responses towards quality health services provision in the country. “This commissioning of…
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Zambia, Rwanda sign trendsetting agreements with Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute
The historic agreements initiated by Israel based non-profit organization Save a Child’s Heart, will provide lifesaving medical care to thousands of children in Sub-Saharan Africa suffering from congenital heart defects while facilitating sharing of medical skills and knowledge among medical centers within the three countries For the first time in history, the Zambian National Heart…
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SA-based Prophet Mellontik Endorses ‘Pasi neGuka’ Singer
Renowned South African-based Zimbabwean Prophet Mellontik Orasi Sos has lauded Pasi neGuka hitmaker Craig Zonke for speaking against drug and substance abuse. In a video that has since gone viral, the Gutu-born cleric poured his heart on the drug abuse before heaping praise on gospel rapper, Craig Zonke, for taking a bold stance to condemn…
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Medcom Personnel Ltd attains milestone achievement in United Kingdom
By Wallace Mawire Medcom Personnel, a healthcare recruitment company specializing in the placement of healthcare professionals, the brainchild of a Zimbabwean-born couple located in the United Kingdom has achieved a milestone by attaining seven years of operation. The company was founded by an enterprising couple, William and Irene Mtisi, who are both Zimbabwean nationals who…
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Stakeholders call for disability inclusive SRHR services
Staff Reporter A Deaf Women Included (DWI) official has called for information on Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) that is disability inclusive. DWI vice chairperson, Ms. Cleopatra Nyaku said women and particularly girls with hearing impairments are often ignored when it comes to information regarding SRHR. “In terms of Sexual Reproductive Health Rights, awareness among…
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Water safe for consumption as Chinhoyi dismisses dead corpse in tank viral news
By Elvis Dumba The Municipality of Chinhoyi Public Relations Manager and Spokesperson Tichaona Mlauzi has assured residents and stakeholders in the town that their drinking water is safe for consumption with the local authority making monthly tests on the quality of their water. Mlauzi remarks follow viral news that circulated in some sections of the…
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EANNASO wants Tanzanian budget to meet Abuja Declaration, cater for SRH
When African Union member states met in Abuja, Nigeria, in April 2001, they committed to allocating 15% of their government budgets to health. This happened because more resources were required to address the health challenges, including HIV and AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis. This was an agreement by heads of state of African Union countries as they met…
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AfDB praised by Egyptian President for supporting Africa through global economic challenges
The bank is committed to supporting countries across Africa to achieve accelerated development despite the recent economic shocks and geopolitical tensions affecting them The President of the Arab Republic of Egypt Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has commended the work of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) in helping the continent to deal with the impact of…
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Chombo rescues Vanad Mine Clinic
By Elvis Dumba Vanad Mine – Zvimba North Constituency Legislator Marian Chombo, who recently won in the ZANU PF primary elections with her win endorsed by the party’s politburo, has come to the aid of Vanad Mine Clinic. The clinic received a consignment of medical equipment from the legislator. The clinic was operating without basic…
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Health Ministry, Plan International in partnership for malaria eradication in Kariba
By Elvis Dumba Chinhoyi – Plan International Zimbabwe has joined hands with the Ministry of Health and Child Care for malaria eradication in Kariba District where there will be mass malaria eradication campaigns whilst riding on collaborative action between the private-public partnership. Mashonaland West Provincial Medical Director, Dr. Gift Masoja told a Provincial Development Strategy…
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CIMMTY-Zimbabwe annual field day to showcase mechanisation technologies
By Wallace Mawire The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) will convene its annual field day at the CIMMYT Southern Africa Regional Office in Harare on the 5th of April 2023. The field day will be held at CIMMYT, a 12.5 km peg along Mazowe Road in Mt Pleasant, Harare. According to Moses Siambi,…
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PAP, FAO collaborate on food security and nutrition in Africa
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The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) met to appraise the milestones reached as part of their existing collaborative framework. Technical teams from both parties held an engagement on lessons learned, and ways to sustain and amplify the collaboration in new areas of common interest. As a background, PAP and…
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MSF: ViiV must improve its failing access strategy for lifesaving HIV prevention drug
ViiV must do more to ensure people in low- and middle-income countries, including MSF patients, have access to injectable PrEP as generic versions are likely years away The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) called yesterday on ViiV to immediately take steps to urgently expedite people’s access to the HIV prevention…
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250,000 patients to benefit from free access to short-course TB preventive treatment
Support from a global consortium will expand access to shorter TB prevention options, help advance efforts towards TB elimination across seven counties The Unitaid-funded IMPAACT4TB Consortium, led by the Aurum Institute, announced on 23 March that it will provide 250,000 patient courses of short course rifapentine-based preventive treatment regimens to seven countries to help…
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Restoring The Water Cycle: Understanding The Basics And Taking Action
By John Wilson I am writing this on World Water Day, March 22nd. The UN’s tagline for the day is ‘Be the change. Every drop counts.’ This is very true. If we are going to return water cycles everywhere to what they used to be, then it will start with each one of us understanding…
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ZACH tackles HIV, GBV drivers through the SASA Programme
The Zimbabwe Association of Church-related Hospitals (ZACH) in collaboration with the National AIDS Council (NAC) is hosting a sensitization workshop for journalists on violence against women (VAW), HIV, as well as violence against girls and young women (VAGYW) with a focus on the implementation of the Start Awareness Support Action (SASA) model. This is part…
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UN Women enhances media capabilities on advancing gender equality during humanitarian crises
A training workshop organised by UN Women Zimbabwe in partnership with Lower Guruve Development Association (LGDA) capacitated the media on how to report on gender (women, men, boys, and girls) during the humanitarian crises with a reflection on how the journalists in Zimbabwe tackled this during COVID-19. The training took place physically in Bindura, Mashonaland…
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International Year of Millets: Nutritional and health benefits of millets
By Patrice Talla – FAO Subregional Coordinator for Southern Africa and FAO Representative in Zimbabwe, Eswatini and Lesotho This year we are celebrating the International Year of Millets. The year was endorsed by Members of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and its Governing Bodies and declared at the 75th Session…
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Climate change impacting biodiversity, threatening development of traditional medicine
Climate change is impacting biodiversity and threatening the development of traditional medicine, Dr. Mithika Mwenda, the Executive Director of the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance has said. He was addressing a sitting of committees of the Pan-African Parliament at the precinct of the African Union’s lawmaking organ in Midrand South Africa that ran from the 6th…
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2023 Marks the Start of a New Era: Yes! We Can End TB
New Coalition of Leaders to End TB to be announced as preliminary data expected to show a reduction in the gap between estimated TB cases and diagnosed patients, to less than 3 million people in 2022 The Stop TB Partnership yesterday issued a positive World TB Day reset, ‘Yes! We Can End TB,’ to rally…
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TB testing: calls for increased access to people on treatment
The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is calling on governments and donors to speed up access to new, shorter, safer, and more effective treatments for drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB), as well as the diagnostic tests needed to initiate treatment on these medicines. This is part of a “Call to Action” that…
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Arundel Hospital delivering high-quality healthcare services
Arundel Hospital is providing quality healthcare services that are saving many lives. The hospital believed to be bankrolled by business tycoon, Kudakwashe Tagwirei through his Sakunda vehicle, played a pivotal role during the Covid-19 pandemic. It has been named the best medical facility which offers both humanitarian and psychosocial support. This is not the first…
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Zimbabwe doing well in nutrition advocacy
By Kudakwashe Pembere Stakeholders involved in the advocacy for the improvement of Zimbabwe’s nutrition needs under the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement banner convened in Harare on Friday to validate the country’s progress in the implementation of the global SUN3.0 strategy. In an interview, Food and Nutrition Council Acting Deputy Director Nutrition, Ms. Siboniso Chigova…
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Global Fund in Partnership for Rapid Molecular Tests for TB
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Stop TB Partnership announced a new collaboration today with Molbio Diagnostics that significantly reduces the price of the Truenat® MTB and MTB Plus tests, including a supply of MTB-RIF Dx tests for subsequent…
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International Women’s Day: Sightsavers fighting for access to eye healthcare for all
This International Women’s Day Sightsavers is fighting for access to eye health care for all, including marginalised populations, such as persons with disabilities and women and girls in hard-to-reach areas. Millions of women across the world are unable to access the healthcare they need and participate fully in society. This International Women’s Day, Wednesday 8…
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Climate change a threat to animal health
By Aaron Charungwa Moyo Climate change has proved to be a hazard to animal health in Zimbabwe, Director of Veterinary Field Services, Dr. Jairus Machakwa has said. “Climate change is distorting the epidemiological picture of January disease as this disease used to be confined to high rainfall regions”, This sentiment is a testament to the…
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AHAIC 2023: Driving agenda for equitable health access, addressing climate change
The biennial conference will convene African stakeholders in health, climate, and development to foster regional collaboration and create a unified position on climate action and health system resilience ahead of UNGA 78 and COP 28. When stakeholders in health, development, and climate convene in Kigali, Rwanda, for the fifth edition of The Africa Health Agenda…
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USAID launches US$17 million OVC HIV support programme in Mashonaland West
By Elvis Dumba Chinhoyi – United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through USAID has launched the Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) support program worth US$17,373,720.00 in Mashonaland West Province. The program will provide support to 42 705 children, adolescents, youth, and families affected and infected by HIV across four districts in Mashonaland West,…
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Zimbabwe launches COVID-19 Documentary
The United Nations has commended President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and the Government of Zimbabwe for the initiative taken to produce a COVID-19 Documentary ‘Fighting the Wave – How a Nation United to Fight the COVID-19 Pandemic’ showcasing how Zimbabwe responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. In his speech during the launch today, Dr. Tajudeen Oyewale, the Acting UN…
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CIDRAP releases Coronavirus Vaccines Research and Development Roadmap
Plan would accelerate a new approach to coronavirus vaccines research and development to protect against COVID-19 variants and future pandemic threats from new coronaviruses The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota today released the Coronavirus Vaccines Research and Development (R&D) Roadmap (CVR), a major global strategy to develop broadly protective vaccines against…
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Public warned as cholera is recorded in Chegutu
By Elvis Dumba Chegutu – Ministry of Health and Child Care in Chegutu has intensified awareness of good hygiene practices in the district following confirmed cases of the disease. A cholera treatment camp in Chegutu Urban has since been activated. “We do have one cholera case in Chegutu Urban. The Rapid Response Team activated the…
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African leaders pledge new commitments to end AIDS
By Baboloki Semele ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA – African leaders and partners have joined together at a high-level event on the sidelines of the 36th Session of the African Union to commit to a set of actions to boost progress towards ending AIDS. The event, Health Financing and Sustaining Action to End AIDS and Related Communicable…
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Chinhoyi Residents Trust petition calls for health provision improvement at Alaska Clinic
The Chinhoyi Residents Trust has petitioned medical officers to improve service delivery at Alaska Clinic in Mashonaland West Province. The petitioners are members of the Chinhoyi Residents Trust (CRT) whose line of work involves pushing for improved service delivery including access to quality and affordable health care in Chinhoyi. The petition is mindful of the fact…