Tag: UNDP

Silencing the Abused: Mbire Villagers Sweep Girls Sexual Abuse Cases Under the Rug

Michael Gwarisa

By Michael Gwarisa in Mbire It’s an early Friday morning, and villagers from communities surrounding Mushumbi Pools growth point in Mbire, troop to Mushumbi High School, where several partners are offering Gender Based Violence (GBV) services under a Mobile One Stop Centre setup. Over 100 women and girls arrived at the venue by 9:00 am. However, one can’t help but notice the visibly young children with babies strapped on their backs. At first glance, one might be tempted to assume the girls are probably ferrying their siblings and probably waiting…

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UNDP Officially Hands Over Masvingo Natpharm Warehouse to Zimbabwe Government

Michael Gwarisa

By Michael Gwarisa in Masvingo Health facilities in Masvingo Province are set to benefit from a multi-million dollar Natpharm Pharmaceutical Warehouse facility constructed through a partnership between the government of Zimbabwe, the Global Fund and the United Nations Development Porgramme (UNDP). The 2,460 square meters new warehouse for NatPharm in Masvingo which holds 2,988 pallet spaces was constructed at a cost of US$ 3,667,724.51. Construction started in 2017 to be completed and handed over to NatPharm for occupation in the first quarter of 2020. Officiating the official handover ceremony of…

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The Daring Five: Zim Female Riders Break Glass Ceiling In Male-Dominated Specimen Transportation Industry

Michael Gwarisa

By Michael Gwarisa in Shamva She probably has the most beautiful smile in Shamva, but don’t let that fool you. Rosemary Sibanda is a goal-getter, confident, bold and aiming for greater heights in her career as a rider working under Zimbabwe’s Integrated Specimen Transportation System (IST). Being caregivers, women find it difficult to penetrate male-dominated fields, and in most cases, employers prefer males to females for certain roles. Despite the many years of female activism and women empowerment advocacy, the gender gap in the professional world has not been closed.…

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How Motorbikes Have Bridged Diagnostic and Specimen Collection Gap In Rural Zimbabwe

Michael Gwarisa

By Michael Gwarisa in Gokwe, Nembudziya It’s around 12 midday, and the sun is blazing hot despite it being winter in Zimbabwe. There is not much activity, left for the chatter of a few old men seated around a pot of opaque beer at a nearby homestead. From a distance, a buzzing sound like that of bees or hornets approaches from the southern side of Kuwirirana Clinic, a health facility in Gokwe Nembudiziya. As the whirring gets closer, a Biker on a motorcycle emerges from a thick cloud of dust…

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UNDP Facilitates Construction of Low Cost Boarding Facilities To Reduce HIV Vulnerability In Adolescent School Girls

Michael Gwarisa

Following the death of her mother, 15 year old Grace Mwamuka* now stays with her father and two minor siblings. She is from Ndima Village in Chimanimani. Throughout the year 2022, she would walk three hours to and from school daily. By Michael Gwarisa Every morning, she would wake up as early as 4:00 AM to clean the house and prepare food for her young siblings before departing for school. After school, she would rush home to clean the house and prepare dinner. This was taking a toll on her…

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Zimbabwe Hosts PrEP Communication Strategy Development Workshop

Michael Gwarisa

Various stakeholders from within the HIV continuum gathered in Mazowe, Mashonaland Central province for a four day Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) communication strategy development workshop. By Michael Gwarisa in Mazowe The workshop was hosted by the National AIDS Council (NAC), in collaboration with Jhpiego, with funding from Global Fund with the objective to design a communication instrument for the planning and coordination of demand creation interventions implemented by key stakeholders and implementing partners in at community level to motivate the uptake and sustained use of PrEP by priority audiences. The communication…

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Zimbabwe’s Health Sector Goes Green with Solar Powered Electronic Health Records

Michael Gwarisa

THE Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC), is rolling out “Impilo,” an Electronic Health Records (EHR) system, which is meant to improve efficiency in the health sector through enhancing data collection, management, patients’ care as well as improve communication between health practitioners and patients. By Michael Gwarisa According to the Ministry of Health, they intend to have fully deployed the system in the entire healthcare sector by December 2023. The roll-out of the Impilo is being supported by key specialized systems like the Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), the…

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Hitting Three Birds with One Stone: Low Cost Boarding Facilities to Address Teen Pregnancies, Early Marriages and New HIV Infections in Chimanimani Adolescent Girls

Michael Gwarisa

HILDER Muwani* (16) is doing Form 3 at Mhakwe Secondary school in Chimanimani. Every day, she walks 30 kilometers to and from school. She at some point contemplated moving to a bush boarding or renting a room near the school just to cut on the distance, but her parents would have none of it. They feared she would mix with the wrong crowd, fall pregnant and end up dropping out of school as has become the fate of many girls in Chimanimani. By Michael Gwarisa recently in Chimanimani The risk…

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Musasa Project Launches GBV Braille Publication

Michael Gwarisa

IN a move to promote inclusive access to Gender Based Violence (GBV) services as well as bridge existing gaps to accessing services, Musasa Project has produced a Braille publication to cater for women and girls with visual impairment and those with low vision. By Michael Gwarisa Publication of the two paged pamphlet was made possible through support from the United Nations Population Fund in Zimbabwe (UNFPA-Zimbabwe), the United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under the program “Increasing access…

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Briefcase HIV Organizations Causing Havoc In HIV Coordination Says NAC

Michael Gwarisa

THE National Aids Council (NAC) has vowed to restore sanity in the HIV response sector by capacitating the Zimbabwe Nationwide Network of People Living with HIV (ZNNP+) which was mandated at the initial stages of the HIV pandemic in Zimbabwe to coordinate community participation and involvement in the HIV response. By Michael Gwarisa Speaking to HealthTimes in an interview, NAC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Bernard Madzima said currently there was chaos in the HIV response at the back of mushrooming organisations purporting to be representing the PLHIV community. ZNNP+…

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