October 2019 - HealthTimes

52 UZ Medical Students Told To Abandon Degree And Pursue Other Programs

October 31, 2019November 8, 2019 Healthtimes

CLOSE to 52 second year medical students from the University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences feel unfairly treated for being told to discontinue their program after their request to rewrite a course was disapproved. By Kudakwashe Pembere A letter in possession of HealthTimes written to the students advised them to join a different program. I regret to advise you that you have not been granted approval to repeat AT2M/AT2DM. you are therefore advised to discontinue and apply to join a different program,” said the institution’s deputy registrar Dr Blessing…

Harare Hospital Mulls Simulation-Based Medical Education

October 31, 2019 Healthtimes

HARARE Central Hospital (HCH) is planning to establish an innovation and simulation hub to equip nursing students and staff in latest medical learning trends. By Kudakwashe Pembere In an interview with HealthTimes, HCH Clinical Director Dr Christopher Pasi said the simulation-based medical education (SBME) will help students and staff a great deal in reducing medical errors. The innovation and simulation hub will help students and staff by having a virtual learning system where resources will be available online. They will be helped in things like setting up of equipment. This…

Early Child Marriages Expose Marange Adolescent Girls To HIV Infection- FACT

October 31, 2019October 31, 2019 Michael Gwarisa

FAMILY Aids Caring Trust (FACT) Community Health Officer, Ms Mirriam Muchadzingwa says there is need to scale up efforts to curb early child marriages in Marange District in order to address the growing HIV burden in young girls. By Michael Gwarisa Speaking to HealthTimes during a Media Tour in Marange recently, Mrs Muchadzingwa said even though the rate of new infections in young girls was still low in the district, cases were being recorded and early child marriages could be the biggest source of the infections. This place is not…

TB Activists Disrupt Global TB Conference Over Exorbitant Prices

October 30, 2019 Michael Gwarisa

DOCTORS Without Borders (MSF) joined tuberculosis (TB) activists to disrupt the opening ceremony of the 50th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Hyderabad today, urging pharmaceutical corporations to make improved drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) treatment affordable and available for hundreds of thousands of people around the world who desperately need it. For the first time in over half a century, there are three new DR-TB drugs – bedaquiline, delamanid and, most recently, pretomanid – that can offer people a better chance to be cured, but barriers to access including high…

Economic Hardships Leaving Young Girls Vulnerable To Abuse

October 30, 2019 Michael Gwarisa

NORTON Member of Parliament Temba Mliswa says the economic hardships the country is facing is leaving the girl child vulnerable to abuse. Mr Mliswa says the abuse the young girls are facing is destroying their confidence leaving them with no hope. “Economic Challenges that we are facing are making our girls prone to abuse by older men and sometimes their parents hence putting them at risk of HIV transmission. Whenever there was a drought it was common to hear stories of young girls being married off to older men so…

Zim Medical Student Elected IFMSA Africa Regional Director

October 30, 2019 Healthtimes

A Zimbabwean medical student was recently elected to head Africa’s Directorate for the International Federation of Medical Students Associations(IFMSA) following a tight contest in Taiwan. By Kudakwashe Pembere Allistair Mukondiwa pursuing a medical degree with the University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences in an interview said he was happy to be the first Zimbabwean to lead African region’s medical students. Honestly, Im both nervous and excited; nervous because I know how much of a big responsibility it is to grow the voice of medical students in global health and…

Global tuberculosis epidemic cannot be ended unless it is eliminated in India

October 30, 2019October 30, 2019 Michael Gwarisa

THE 50th Union World Conference on Lung Health taking place in Hyderabad, India, has opened with a call to end the emergency of the global tuberculosis (TB) epidemic, now responsible for killing some 1.5 million people each year. “Ending the TB emergency starts right here in India,” said José Luis Castro, Executive Director of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), convenor of the Union World Conference, which is being held for the first time in India in half a century. The Indian government led by Prime…

“We Wont Be Attending Disciplinary Hearing”- Striking Doctors

October 30, 2019October 30, 2019 Healthtimes

STRIKING doctors will not attend the November 1 disciplinary hearing by Government claiming demanding salary increases was within their rights, HealthTimes has learnt. By Kudakwashe Pembere In an interview with Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA) secretary general Dr Tawanda Zvakada said demanding a fair wage did not warrant a disciplinary hearing. “We believe we have not committed any misconduct by demanding a fair living wage,” he said. “No one is attending any hearing.” The doctors are expected to appear for disciplinary hearings for being on industrial action for nearly two…

Giving Traditional Leaders Arresting Powers Could End Early Unintended Pregnancies

October 29, 2019October 29, 2019 Michael Gwarisa

MUDZI has one of the highest prevalence of Early and Unintended Pregnancies (EUPs) and early child marriages owing to a plethora of factors chief among them being poverty, peer pressure and a lack of education. Girls within the age range of 15-17 constitute a large number of girls dropping out of school and those getting married in Mudzi. Owing to its proximity to the boarder and the expansion of mining activities in the area, high cases of Early Unintended Pregnancies and early child marriages continue to be recorded despite efforts…

‘High Demand For Injectable PrEP Among Zim, SA Women Than In The US’

October 29, 2019October 29, 2019 Healthtimes

WOMEN in Zimbabwe and South Africa without HIV may demand long acting injectable pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) more than American women, a latest HPTN 076 phase 2 clinical research has found. By Kudakwashe Pembere This research comes on the back drop of a high HIV incidence and low adherence to daily oral PrEP among women underscoring the need for more acceptable and easier to use HIV prevention products. The study examined the acceptability of a long-acting injectable PrEP among HIV-uninfected women in Zimbabwe, South Africa and two United States phase 2…