Zimbabwe: MSF teams help tackle cholera in Buhera district

It’s swelteringly hot under the midday sun in Chapanduka village in Buhera, a district of Manicaland province in south-eastern Zimbabwe, where a cholera outbreak has been raging since October 2023. A vehicle belonging to Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is navigating the bumpy road, heading to a local clinic to help treat patients and support local health staff in the management of the deadly waterborne disease. Suddenly the MSF vehicle draws to a halt. A man is lying on the roadside, drawing a crowd of onlookers, many of whom…

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MOZAMBIQUE: MSF expands access to safe abortion care in Beira

By Health Reporter Tuesday, January 23, 2024 — In Beira, a city on Mozambique’s central coast, Doctors Without Borders/MSF is connecting hard-to-reach communities with safe abortion care and other sexual and reproductive health services. Mozambique has one of Africa’s most liberal abortion laws, allowing abortion on request during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and up to 24 weeks in limited circumstances, including fetal abnormality. Though abortion has been legal since 2014, many people still face obstacles to accessing this care, including stigma, misinformation, and corruption, such as charging for…

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MSF Provides mental health support for refugees

In Tongogara refugee camp, a remote place in the south-east of Zimbabwe where over 15,000 people live, most of the refugees come from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mozambique, Burundi and Rwanda. While in their country of origin, most of the refugees experienced traumatic events including war, rape, torture and physical injuries, among other traumatic events that caused them to flee. By Staff Reporter For some of the refugees, the camp is the only home they have known for nearly 20 years, having been born and bred there. As…

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Bandits Kill MSF Medical Staff In Burkina Faso

ARMED men yesterday morning (8/2/23) shot and killed two Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) medical staff in the Boucle du Mouhoun region, in northwestern Burkina Faso. By Michael Gwarisa The now deceased were on board an MSF vehicle, clearly identified as such, carrying a medical team of four on the road between Dédougou and Touga. The other two managed to escape the attack.The two victims, both from Burkina Faso, had been employed by MSF as a driver, since July 2021, and a logistics supervisor, since June 2020. They were 39 and…

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Zimbabwe Underground Water Could Run Dry In Our Lifetime

UNREGULATED pumping and extraction of ground water for both domestic and industrial purposes is putting a strain of Zimbabwe’s underground water, with indications that the resource could deplete in the foreseeable future, water experts have warned. By Michael Gwarisa The warning comes in the wake of increased extraction of underground water due to unplanned urbanization which has resulted in the sprouting of new settlements where land developers and city authorities are settling people in areas where there are no basic amenities such as piped running water. Renowned Hydrologist with the…

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Angela Makamure Lands Top Post In MSF

RENOWNED communication specialist and Journalist, Angela Makamure has landed a more senior role to become the new Regional Communications Manager for MSF in Southern Africa Region. By Staff Reporter Before her elevation, Angela served as the Media Liaison and Southern Africa Links Co-ordinator within MSF. After serving you for many years as Media Liaison and Southern Africa Links Coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Southern Africa, that time has come to move to the next chapter. I am not leaving MSF, but just shifting to a new position of Regional…

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How Stoneridge, An Informal Settlement Uses Innovative Earthworm Technology To Manage Waste

IN 2019, the City of Harare hinted on plans to regularise Stoneridge, which is an illegal settlement 15 kilometers South East of the centre of Harare and houses not less than 39 000 households. However, while plans are still underway to formalise settlement and evidence of modern housing and road infrastructure already showing in some parts of Stoneridge where property developers have bought, there still remains a sizable number of people who are still informally settled. By Michael Gwarisa Majority of these people lack basic amenities owing to their settlement…

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Turning a Dump-Site into a fountain Of Hope: How MSF’s Sanitary Seals Are Purifying Underground Water in Harare’s Cholera Hotspots

Mrs Netsai Manthenga (46), a resident of Mbare National, recalls how they used to wake up as early as 4:00 in the morning to queue for water at Stoddard Hall in Mbare only to return home around mid-day. Elderly residents who failed to cope with the shoving and pushing at the water points would at times get their water from a nearby stream where raw sewage and dirty water that is usually drained from the Swimming pool nearby flows. By Michael Gwarisa It wasn’t easy,” she says, “Imagine spending eight…

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MSF Holds Regional Scientific Day in Zimbabwe

THE Medecins Sans Frontieres / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hosted a half-day regional scientific day in Harare, Zimbabwe where various scientific innovations and researches from MSF’s field programs around the world were presented. By Michael Gwarisa The event was a hybrid setup where delegates attended both virtually and physically in Harare. Giving his Keynote address, Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC), Group Captain, Dr. Munyaradzi Dobbie, Chief Director Public Health applauded MSF’s interventions in Zimbabwe’s healthcare sector. As government, we are appreciative of MSF’s continued support to Zimbabwe and…

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MSF launches a new mental health intervention at Tongogara Refugee Camp

Chipinge, 20 June 2022: Today on World Refugee Day, the international medical humanitarian organisation, Medecins Sans Frontieres / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) launches a new mental health intervention at Tongogara Refugee Camp (TRC) in Chipinge, Zimbabwe, a place that has become home to nearly 15,000 refugees. Many refugees living in TRC fled war, conflict and unrest across the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa. A majority of them come from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Mozambique Ethiopia, and Eritrea. By Staff Reporter Most of the refugees have…

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