Author: Healthtimes

Positive living: Understanding HIV viral load

Healthtimes

By Tariro Mhute and Dr Pardon Maringe Behind the famous National Flats in Mbare, you will find Fungai* in his makeshift barber shop with a plastic and wood roof and walls made from cardboard boxes. The streets are busy, a common feature in the oldest high density residential area in Zimbabwe. A dreadlocked gentleman hangs from a commuter omnibus dressed in low-slung blue jeans and worn-out sneakers shouting, “town here?”  colloquial language commonly used by touts which means “are you going to town?”. Fungai greets his third customer of the…

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UNAIDS welcomes parliament’s decision to repeal the law that criminalizes HIV transmission in Zimbabwe

Healthtimes

UNAIDS congratulates Zimbabwe’s parliament for repealing section 79 of the Criminal Law Code, which criminalizes HIV transmission. A new marriage bill adopted by parliament that repeals the criminal code section is to be signed into law by the president. The criminalization of HIV transmission is ineffective, discriminatory and undermines efforts to reduce new HIV infections. Such laws actively discourage people from getting tested for HIV and from being referred to the appropriate treatment and prevention services. Public health goals are not served by denying people their individual rights and I…

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Serial Rapist Murders 9 Women After Raping Them In Marondera and Goromonzi

Healthtimes

A 30 year old man, Bright Zhantali has been arrested in connection with the killing and raping of nine women in Mashonaland East province since beginning of 2022. By HealthTimes Reporter According to the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), the man Zhantali was arrested on March 19, 2022 in Goromonzi for nine counts of murder and rape cases which occurred during the period 14 January 2022 to 12 March 2022 in Hwedza, Macheke, Goromonzi and Marondera and all his victims were women. On the first incident, the suspect attacked Mercy Simairi…

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Serious shortage of forensic pathology and cytopathology specialists in Zim

Healthtimes

ZIMBABWE has a massive shortage of cytopathologists as well as forensic pathologists, former Health and Child Care minister, Dr Obadiah Moyo has said. By Kudakwashe Pembere He made these revelations over the weekend during the inaugural Zimbabwe College of Pathology (ZCP) graduation at the University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences (UZCHS) where he bemoaned how the country had a shortage of specialists in clinical laboratory medicine also known as pathologists. Cytologists specialize in cancer diagnosis while forensic pathologists deal with crime related post mortems. He said this on the…

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Hundreds Thousands Of Condoms Go Missing In Kenyan Warehouse

Healthtimes

Hundreds of thousands of condoms, mosquito nets and tuberculosis drugs worth $100,000 (£77,000) are alleged to have disappeared from a warehouse operated by the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa). BBC They are believed to have been stolen and resold on the black market and to private chemists, according to the UN’s Global Fund to fight HIV, TB and malaria. It also accuses the agency of drastically inflating the price of the medicine, with some drugs being sold for one hundred times the correct cost. The government agency has not yet…

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5000 Young Women Aged 15–24 Become infected With HIV Every Week

Healthtimes

YOUNG women and girls still constitute the largest proportion of new HIV infections with indications that every week, around 5000 young women aged 15–24 years become infected with HIV, according to the UNAIDS Global AIDS Statistics Fact Sheet. By Staff Reporter According to the report, in sub-Saharan Africa, six in seven new HIV infections among adolescents aged 15–19 years are among girls. Young women aged 15–24 years are twice as likely to be living with HIV than men. Around 4200 adolescent girls and young women aged 15–24 years became infected…

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Marriage Perspectives With Loise Chingandu: For Newly Weds

Healthtimes

EVER since lobola events became a public event, marriages seem to be on the increase. I admire the glitz and glamour that comes with these ceremonies but I am always sad when within weeks or a few months pots start flying, bags are packed end of the union before it has even started. My question when I see lobola parties is; Do these young people understand what marriage is? By Loise Chingandu It is a complex institution with a set of rules that you only know and understand when you…

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Close To 10 Million Zimbabweans Could Be Food Insecure By September

Healthtimes

ZIMBABWE is one of the African countries staring food insecurity in the face, with indications that between 40 percent to 60 percent of the country’s population could food insecure by September, 2022. By HealthTimes Correspondent A Food Assistance Outlook Brief prepared by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) shows in its estimated acutely food insecure populations that only Zimbabwe and Somalia have 40 percent to 60 percent of their populations which are to be food insecure in September 2022. This 40-60percent translates to 5 million to 9.9 million…

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We cannot let war in Ukraine derail HIV, TB and Covid-19 treatment in eastern Europe

Healthtimes

It is no surprise that the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for oxygen and critical medical supplies to safely reach those who need them in Ukraine and moving to establish safe transit for shipments through Poland. But nor is the call new. We`ve been here before. By Michel Kazatchkine — This article appeared first on The Telegraph Russian annexation of Crimea and the conflict in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Eastern Ukraine in 2014 threatened the supply of HIV and tuberculosis medicines. Fragile trans-internal border efforts and financing by the…

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Call to have open-heart surgeries done in Zim gets louder

Healthtimes

PARENTS, guardians of children with congenital heart diseases alongside specialist cardiologists in Zimbabwe have taken Government to task asking it to come up with measures that will see open heart surgeries being done in the country. HealthTimes Correspondent Experts who spoke last Friday in a webinar on congenital heart diseases expressed concern over the thousands of United States dollars spent on heart surgeries which can be done in the country. The experts said Zimbabwe has the potential to do cardiac-thoracic surgeries which can only be realized fully if Government and…

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