Use of radiation sciences improves cancer management

By Byron Mutingwende Zimbabwe is in the process of capacitating radiotherapists with a view of enhancing the use of radiation sciences to improve the management of cancer. Zimbabwe, through the Ministry of Health and Childcare has roped in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts from South Africa for a partnership in all activities related…

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UN spearheading resilience uptake in Masvingo

By Byron Mutingwende   Resilience science involves bringing together multiple strategies targeting a variety of stakeholders who are affected differently by the shocks that arise out of the negative effects of climate change. True to its modus operandi, the United Nations (UN) Zimbabwe team toured Masvingo Province to ensure communities embrace this phenomenon.   To…

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Non payment of public workers derailing healthcare delivery in Yemen

Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) have blamed the deterioration of healthcare delivery in Yemen on non-payment of government workers.They said the widespread and critical problems arose out of the fact that most Ministry of Public Health and Population staff last received their regular salary a year ago. In that regard, MSF is calling for…

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Healthcare threatened as Syrian war intensifies

By Staff Writer Amid a sharp intensification of bombing since Tuesday 19 September over northwestern Syria, mainly Idlib govern-orate and north of Hama govern-orate, hospitals are closing. This is either because they have been bombed or because they fear being bombed. Medical emergency organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) says patients are left with ever-decreasing options for…

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Zimbabwe concerned about increase in antimicrobial resistance

By Patricia Mashiri Zimbabwe is concerned bout the significant growth of resistance to infections like TB and malaria, which is generally known as antimicrobial resistance. The Ministry of Health and Childcare has launched the Zimbabwe Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) National Action Plan and the Situation Analysis Report under the theme “Together as one Health in the…

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Tough conditions for Rohingyas refugees in Bangladesh

By Doctors Without Borders/MSF With little potable water available, people are drinking water collected from paddy fields, ponds, or hand-dug shallow wells often contaminated with faeces and urine Friday, September 22, 2017 — A massive scale-up of humanitarian aid in Bangladesh is needed to avoid a massive public health disaster following the arrival of hundreds of…

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SADC medical councils collaborate

By Patricia Mashiri In a bid to foster collaboration in the region, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) medical councils have come up with a regulatory plan to ensure positive health outcomes for all. In pursuit of that goal,David Parirenyatwa, the Minister of Health and Child Care officially opened the SADC Medical and Dental Regulatory…

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ZUNDAF advances SDGs agenda

The United Nations office in Zimbabwe has fully embraced the 2030 Agenda which pursues the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as its roadmap for inclusive development. The United Nations Team in Zimbabwe, in support of national development priorities and in partnership with development partners, has reiterated its commitments articulated under the 2016-2020 Zimbabwe United Nations Development…

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Climate change impacts human development

By Patricia Mashiri The Zimbabwe Human Development report focuses on critically analysing issues pertaining to climate change and its impacts on the livelihood of people, food security, health and education. The report was guided by Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) and the Ministry of Macroeconomic Planning and Investment to provide an in-depth analysis…

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High cost of blood hampers access to health: CWGH

The Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) has lamented the high cost of blood and said it was one of the major barriers that prevent ordinary Zimbabweans from accessing and enjoying their health entitlements and rights as enshrined in the country’s constitution. “Faced with worsening economic challenges and growing unemployment, Zimbabwe continues to lose precious…

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NDCs among strategies to address climate change challenges

By Byron Mutingwende   The Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are among the strategies aimed at addressing the challenges associated with climate change.   Climate change has the potential to impact negatively on almost all sectors of the economy. Zimbabwe like other African countries has been experiencing impacts of climate change which includes severe floods, frequent…

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ZICHIRE-BC Target Youths on SRH Issues through Sports

By Edward Makuzva Zimbabwe Community Health Intervention Research Project Behaviour Change (ZICHIRE-BC) is targeting youths in sports initiative as a platform to raise awareness on key issues impacting their lives including HIV and AIDS, drug abuse as well as Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) issues. In an interview, on Saturday during the under 21 challenge soccer league invitational…

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Zim Results Based Financing to guide Gambians on implementing MCNH Project

By Byron Mutingwende   A delegation from Gambia is in Zimbabwe to exchange notes with the country on how to implement results based financing (RBF) on maternal and child nutrition health (MCNH) project, it has emerged.   Speaking at a welcome reception for the Gambian delegation in Harare on Monday 3 September 2017, Aldrin Musiiwa,…

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Stakeholders ponder healthcare ecosystem

The Healthcare Ecosystem and Quality of Life is the theme of this year’s Association of Healthcare Funders of Zimbabwe (AHFoZ) Annual Stakeholders’ Conference, which takes place at the Kingdom Hotel in Victoria Falls this week, from Wednesday (September 6) to Saturday (September 9). The theme emphasises the role that different players in the health sector,…

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CWGH embarks on typhoid awareness clean-up campaign

By Patricia Mashiri The Community working group on health (CWGH) has embarked on typhoid awareness clean-up campaigns following the massive outbreak of typhoid in Hatcliffe. The clean-up was held under the theme “a clean and health environment is your right and responsibility”. In his opening remarks during the clean-up campaign on Friday 25 July 2017,…

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Nurses threaten strike and withdrawal from Health Services Board

By Byron Mutingwende   The nurse managers and educators in government are bemoaning the deteriorating conditions of service since the enactment of the Health Services Act in 2005.   Speaking at a stakeholders’ consultative meeting in Harare on Friday 25 July 2017, Simangaliso Mafu, the President of the Zimbabwe Nurses Association said there was a…

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RBZ, Miracle Missions, ARC promoting financial inclusion and good health of PWDs

By Patricia Mashiri and Byron Mutingwende In an effort to promote financial inclusion among people with disabilities (PWDs) and afford them quality health services, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), the Adult Rape Clinic (ARC) and Miracle Missions partnered to capacitate this excluded group. In her speech at the networking meeting with PWDs held at…

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Malnutrition in Pakistan high due to lack of breastfeeding: MSF

Health Reporter The Doctors Without Borders/MSF has expressed concern at the alarming trend in Dera Murad Jamali, Baluchistan – Pakistan, where many children are suffering from malnutrition due to lack of breast feeding. Malnutrition is also being further caused by poor health seeking behaviour, unsafe drinking water and unhygienic practices in the area. Doctors Without Borders…

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Breastfeed at work – women told

By Edward Makuzva Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr David Parirenyatwa has urged workplace, formal or informal sectors to create an enabling environment that allow time for women to breast feed during working hours. Addressing delegates yesterday,at Zimbabwe Grounds, Highfield at the official launch of the 2017 World breastfeeding Week, Minister Parirenyatwa said the…

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Africa CDC centre to improve NCDs surveillance, preparedness and response

By Health Correspondent Central African countries meeting last week on Thursday and Friday operationalised the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s (Africa CDC) Regional Collaborating Centre (RCC). The centre will coordinate the efforts of Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sao Tomé and Principe and Chad to jointly strengthen surveillance, emergency…

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SafAIDS youth programme addresses cultural barriers to HIV

By Nevson Mpofu Tradition and culture negatively impact programmes that empower many promising young people. Although young people might still be disadvantaged by several social , economic and political factors related to culture and tradition, SAFAIDS, an HIV and AIDS regional organisation has taken a stance towards African values which over the past decades have…

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MSF Sounds Alarm Over High Numbers of People Dying from AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa

Global attention needed to prevent and treat AIDS in antiretroviral era An unacceptably high number of people from sub-Saharan Africa have been left out of the global HIV response—without access to treatment or medical care—and they continue to develop and die from AIDS-related diseases, according to data released by the international medical humanitarian organisation Doctors…

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IAS 2017 to feature new discoveries and advances in HIV prevention and treatment

Conference highlights importance of continued investment in HIV research and translating science into action (Paris, France) – More than 6,000 HIV professionals from around the world have gathered in Paris for the 9th IAS Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2017), the world’s largest open scientific meeting on HIV. The four-day conference is organized by the…

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Invest in HIV Science to end epidemic: IAS 2017 Scientific co-chairs

By Byron Mutingwende The International AIDS Society (IAS) 2017 Scientific Co-Chairs, Linda-Gail Bekker and Jean-François Delfraissy have said HIV science matters in ending the epidemic – a situation that requires the continued contribution of and investment in science. The experts said scientific knowledge is the backbone of the HIV response. “Over the past 30 years,…

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