Category: #COVID19

Media a key ally in promoting health for all- WHO Rep

Michael Gwarisa

WORLD Health Organisation Zimbabwe country Representative, Professor Jean Marie Dangou has emphasized the need for media to collaborate with stakeholders in the healthcare sector in order to create an informed society. By Michael Gwarisa He said this while welcoming health Journalists and members of the Health Communicators Forum (HCF) in Zimbabwe to a Media Science Café on COVID-19 that was held at the WHO Offices in Harare. It is also pleasing to know that there is a group of dedicated health journalists in Zimbabwe. This makes it easier for coordination…

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COVID-19 no longer a Public Health Emergency of International Concern……WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

Michael Gwarisa

FOR the past three years, the world literally came to a halt at the back of a raging COVID-19 pandemic that claimed and infected millions of people. According data, globally, as of 7 May 2023, over 765 million confirmed cases and over 6.9 million deaths had been reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO). By Michael Gwarisa Compared to other pandemics that have been experienced in the history of public health, COVID-19 has the least fatalities. For example, HIV and AIDS known as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), acquired immunodeficiency…

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WHO Declares An End To COVID-19 Global Health Emergency

Healthtimes

The World Health Organization announced on Friday that it was ending the emergency it declared for Covid-19 more than three years ago, a milestone in the fitful emergence from a pandemic that has killed millions of people around the world and upended daily life in previously unimaginable ways. “It is with great hope that I declare Covid-19 over as a global health emergency,” said the W.H.O. director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. But W.H.O. officials warned that the decision to lift the emergency does not signal an end to the pandemic,…

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WHO Tells Countries To Increase Graduation Numbers Of Healthcare Personnel

Michael Gwarisa

In order to curb chronic shortages of health workers in low and middle income countries, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has advised all countries to increase graduation of health personnel to reach 8-12% of the active workforce per annum. By Michael Gwarisa The call comes a few weeks after the World Health Organization (WHO)  released an updated WHO health workforce support and safeguards list 2023, identifying 55 countries including Zimbabwe, as vulnerable for availability of health workers required to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal target for universal health coverage…

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New WHO Findings On Possible Links Between COVID-19 And Chinese Sea Food Market Call For Action Against Zoonotic Diseases

Dingaan Mithi

By Dingaan Mithi For many months, there has been speculation on the possible origins of Covid-19. While there is no conclusive proof or evidence as to where exactly the virus originated from, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) blamed the Chinese government, pointing to a laboratory leakage of the virus, a new report by public health experts finds that Covid-19 could have originated in raccoon dogs. On 4 March 2023, scientists discovered accessions posted publicly on the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data (GISAID), a global science initiative…

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#BREAKING: Marburg virus disease could become global outbreak

Michael Gwarisa

THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has not ruled out the possibility of the Marburg virus disease (MVD) becoming a global health pandemic if necessary precautions are not taken on time. By Michael Gwarisa According to the Africa Center for Disease Control, MVD is a highly fatal, zoonotic haemorrhagic disease caused by the Marburg virus. Human-to-human transmission occurs through direct contact with body fluids from infected persons, or contact with equipment and other materials contaminated with infectious blood or tissues, body fluids of infected people, and contaminated surfaces or materials. Giving…

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French Government supports routine immunization and COVID-19 vaccination in Zimbabwe

Healthtimes

WITH World Health Day commemorations slated for April 8, 2023 looming, the Ambassador of France, HE Laurent Chevallier, and the French Regional Counselor for Global Health in Southern Africa, Dr Thomas Mourez, recently had a field visit in Harare assessing how the country is faring in routine immunization. The visit was facilitated by the Ministry of Health and Child Care and UNICEF. By Staff Reporter The visit comes after the French Government contributed 2.5 million USD towards the COVAX facility programme. The funding will strengthen routine immunization and the integration…

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COVID-19 still a global health emergency, says WHO

Healthtimes

The verdict is in: The COVID-19 pandemic is still a global health emergency, the World Health Organization has concluded. But it might not be for much longer. The decision from the WHO — exactly three years after COVID-19 was first declared a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) — comes after a meeting of the COVID-19 emergency committee on January 27. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus concurred with the committee’s advice that there is a continued risk posed by COVID-19. The news comes as countries increasingly deliberate how…

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#BREAKING: Harare Typhoid cases going up…Three Contaminated Boreholes closed

Michael Gwarisa

FOLLOWING the resurgence of Typhoid, the City of Harare recently decommissioned three water boreholes linked to the recent surge in infections in some parts of Harare. By Michael Gwarisa The Typhoid outbreak was reported in December last year (2022) in the Western suburbs of Harare mainly in children below the age of five. Speaking in an interview with HealthTimes, Dr Michael Vere, the Epidemiology and Disease Control Officer in the City of Harare said they have recorded 80 Typhoid cases to date with Glen Norah being the most affected. Glen…

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Botswana Detects OMICRON SUB-VARIANT, XBB. 1,5

Healthtimes

A 𝐁𝐨𝐭𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐚 government official, Mr. Malepa Dibonwa has announced that Botswana has detected the Omicron variant XBB.1.5. This comes barely a few days after neighboring South Africa also announced detection of Omicron sub-variant, bringing t two the total number of Southern African countries that have since detected the variant. Members of the public are informed that the sub lineage of the Omicron variant XBB.1.5 has been detected in Botswana and South Africa. Only 1 case of the Omicron sub lineage XBB.1.5 has so far been detected in Botswana. The sub…

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