September 2019 - HealthTimes

Doctors Strike Enters Fourth Week

September 30, 2019September 30, 2019 Michael Gwarisa

TODAY marks exactly four weeks since government doctors declared incapacitation as a result of poor living conditions, amidst indications that there could be no hope in sight to the end of the industrial action should government fail to meet their demands. By Michael Gwarisa In a statement, Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA) acting Secretary General, Dr Tawanda Zvakada said doctors were committed to resuming work and saving lives but the situation on the ground was no longer workable. Several engagements have been made with the employer to come and address…

‘Shun Stigma Towards People With Ostomy’

September 30, 2019 Healthtimes

HEALTH workers and homecare givers should stop stigmatising people living with ostomy through offering psychosocial support. By Kudakwashe Pembere Ostomy is a surgery where surgeons create an opening also known as stoma from an area inside the body to the outside to treat digestive or urinary systems. This came out during a sensitisation meeting on ostomy on Monday hosted by Ileostomy Colostomy Zimbabwe Trust. A Sister in Charge at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals in the departments of Oncology and Pallative Care Roseline Changondolo urged nurses to shun arrogance when managing…

Zim Runs Out Of Baby Growth Monitoring Charts

September 30, 2019September 30, 2019 Healthtimes

ZIMBABWEAN mothers have gone for several months without baby growth monitoring chart cards and have since resorted to clinic or hospital cards used for ‘over fives’, HealthTimes has learnt. By Kudakwashe Pembere The unavailability of these ‘baby cards’ has deprived mothers access to critical growth monitoring information, plunging the health of babies in jeopardy. Health Ministry’s Family Health Director Dr Bernard Madzima told this publication the importance of these cards. “The cards which you are talking about are called ‘Road To Health Cards’ or ‘Growth Monitoring Cards’. They are for…

Guruve Couples Turn To Withdrawal Method…As Contraceptives Crisis Deepens

September 28, 2019September 28, 2019 Michael Gwarisa

IT’S a chilly evening in the sandy plains of Guruve and everyone is tucked in their homes waiting to have a hot meal and take an evening nap. Everyone is talking about the change of weather and how all of a sudden, September has turned out to be freezing while some ambitious farmers are already contemplating tilling the land. By Michael Gwarisa recently in Guruve For married couples, evenings are like what Christmas is to a five year old. It is a well-known and scientifically proven fact that men get…

240 Nurses Graduate At Parirenyatwa Hospital

September 27, 2019 Healthtimes

ABOUT 240 nurses trained at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals graduated on Friday as registered general nurses, midwives, renal nurses, ophthalmology, theatre, anesthetics, Intensive Care Unit nurses,and administrative nurses. By Kudakwashe Pembere Officiating the graduation ceremony on behalf of the Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo, Health Service Board vice chair Professor Auxillia Munodawafa-Chideme said the training fostered key principles of health quality assurance and improvement. This includes ensuring a patient centred, participatory and equitable approach. A holistic approach to patient care which considers patients’ preferences, needs and values…

Zim Hero Doctor Saves Ailing Patient Mid-air

September 27, 2019 Michael Gwarisa

DR Edgar Munatsi an off duty Zimbabwean medical doctor manged to resuscitate a a patient who had fallen on board flight to the United Kingdom (UK), HealthTimes has learnt. By Michael Gwarisa The hero doctor was on his way to take up a Chevening scholarship in the UK where he set to start an MSc in Public Health for Development at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.. I raised my hand, I quickly looked around to see if there was anyone who had responded, but there was none.…

2020 Health Levy Collections To Drop

September 26, 2019September 26, 2019 NewsRoom

THE Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) has revised downwards its monthly target for revenue collected from the 5% health levy to ZW$10.5 million down from their initial projection of ZW$17 million per month for the year 2020. By Michael Gwarisa The development follows a series of mobile tariff increases by local mobile network operators in the past few months which has led to a reduction in spending on voice calls by citizens on their cellphones. Ministry of Health Director Finance and Administration, Mrs Heather Machamire said collections from…

Save The Children Offers Psychosocial Support To Cyclone Idai Affected Children

September 26, 2019 NewsRoom

SAVE The Children Zimbabwe is currently offering Psychosocial Support Services (PSS) to children in Cyclone Idai affected communities in a bid to empower children to overcome fear through building resilience as well as develop coping mechanisms. By Michael Gwarisa Through the use of a PSS toolkit called Singing to the lion’s by Dr Jonathan Brakash a Clinical psychologis, Save the Children has reached a total of 1463 children comprising of 777 girls and 686 boys with PSS activities that are implemented at two Child Friendly spaces they have set up…

Let’s Scale Up HIV PrEP Roll-Out in Zimbabwe

September 26, 2019 NewsRoom

OUT of a population of 14 million about 1, 2 million Zimbabweans are living with HIV. The big question is, how can we stop new infections? By Paul Sixpence Among many options available, scaling up HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) roll out to people at risk could help in stopping new infections. As of September 2019 about 11 000 people had been initiated on PrEP since its regulatory approval in 2016. Zimbabwe is a HIV high burden country with thousands of new infections each year which makes the call for urgent,…

WAG Takes Gender Budgeting To The Grassroots

September 26, 2019September 26, 2019 Michael Gwarisa

WOMEN’S Action Group (WAG), has commenced pre-budget consultation meetings inorder to raise awareness on the importance of mainstreaming gender budgeting in the budgeting process. By Michael Gwarisa recently in Guruve Speaking during a public expenditure feedback and budget consultation meeting held in Guruve yesterday (25/09/19), WAG Programs Officer, Fiona Tinarwo said the national budget to be presented by finance minister, Prof Mthuli Ncube in November this year should be gender responsive and also prioritise women’s needs. For us to advance Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) for women, there is…