Author: Michael Gwarisa

Editor for HealthTimes, Zimbabwe's leading online health news publication

Zim Commemorates World First Aid Day

Michael Gwarisa

THE Zimbabwe Red Cross Society (ZRCS) held its belated  World First Aid Day National Commemorations in Gweru amidst growing calls for first aid training to be extended to all spheres of society. By Michael Gwarisa The commemorations ran under the  ‘Lifelong First Aid Learning.’ The event is celebrated every second Saturday of September is an act of humanitarian empowerment and  reaches a wider public audience. Officiating at the ceremony, Mr Munesuishe Munodawafa, Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe Managing Director said, “We are living in trying times and every day we…

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Economic Induced Absenteeism Weighs Heavily On the Mental Health of Rural Manicaland School Children

Michael Gwarisa

For Alice Nyatsanga (16), school days are not something to cherish as they usually involve cat and mouse games with school authorities due to non-payment of school fees. To raise money for tuition, stationery and food, Alice is forced to join her grandmother in doing casual work in people’s fields as well as sell firewood by the road side along the busy Mutare/Masvingo Highway. By Michael Gwarisa in  Manicaland Province “At times, when we open schools, it does not matter lessons would have started, I have to abandon school for…

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We need to avert teen pregnancies in SADC to build back better

Michael Gwarisa
Young Preganant Women

The 2gether 4 SRHR programme (UNAIDS, UNICEF, UNFPA, and WHO) in partnership with the Clinton Health Access Initiative, hosted a dialogue on high-impact practices on 11 September 2022, to avert teen pregnancies in the SADC region. By Staff Reporter The hybrid discussion was a call to action for decision-makers and public health professionals to ensure teenage pregnancy is curbed. University of Cape Town researcher Silinganisiwe Dzumbunu highlighted that key drivers of teenage pregnancy include poverty, natural disasters and climate change that lead to food and resource insecurity, and harmful cultural…

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Zim’s Targeted TB Screening Model Detects Over 7,000 New TB Cases

Michael Gwarisa

A total 7,317 new Tuberculosis (TB) cases were detected in hard to reach population groups since the year 2019 through the Kunda-Nqob’iTB (KN-TB) project, a community centred TB research and case detection model being implemented in Zimbabwe. By Michael Gwarisa The KN-TB program is a five year United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Tuberculosis Local Organization Network (TB-LON) funded project running from 2019 to 2024. The project is supporting the national TB-HIV response in Zimbabwe in eight high burden districts across three provinces. The eight target districts are Gweru,…

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Operation Dudula Casts Dark Cloud On Zim Immigrant DR TB Patients

Michael Gwarisa

THE boiling anti-foreigner sentiment in neighbouring South Africa being advanced by a vigilante group, Operation Dudula is likely to have a negative impact on the treatment outcomes of South African based Zimbabweans with Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (DR-TB), a top TB expert has warned. By Staff Reporter The cautioning comes in the midst of indications that South Africa is a DR-TB endemic country and Zimbabwe immigrants who reside in South Africa make up a sizable number of DR-TB new cases recorded annually in Zimbabwe. However, of late, Operation Dudula has been…

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Zimbabwe’s Migration At Record High…As 900,000 Of Thousands Leave The Country

Michael Gwarisa

EMIGRATION in Zimbabwe is currently at its peak, with indications that the country witnessed a sharp increase in the number of emigrants between 2020 and 2021 largely for employment reasons. By Michael Gwarisa Preliminary findings from the 2022 National Housing and Population Census (HPC) indicate that the most emigrants from Zimbabwe were based in the Southern African region and in particular South Africa with 773,246 and Botswana with 47,928. For overseas countries, the United Kingdom had 23,166 emigrants. The number of emigrants was increasing since the 1980’s. There was a…

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Finally, the girls can DREAM!

Michael Gwarisa

Tafadzwa Mabaya (16) is a data entry clerk at the Zimbabwe Health Interventions (ZHI) offices in Bulawayo. However, her story was not always this rosy. Back in 2016, Tafadzwa got married to a man from the apostolic sect. The marriage did not last as the man abusive and harbored polygamous intentions. By Michael Gwarisa She returned to stay with her mother in Marange where she was working. That is when she saw girls under the Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS Free Mentored (DREAMS) program seated under a tree at a nearby…

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Here is why Blood is expensive in Zim

Michael Gwarisa

For a long time, there has been disgruntlement from various sections of society over the highly priced precious liquid of blood in Zimbabwe. The bone of contention over years has been around the cost of blood and blood products despite the fact that the National Blood Service of Zimbabwe (NBSZ) gets blood free of charge from blood donors. By Michael Gwarisa In 2018, the Ministry of Health and Child (MoHCC), then under the regime of Dr David Parirenyatwa launched the Free Blood Initiative that would see pregnant women and vulnerable…

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Zimbabwe Red Cross Society Offering Free Cervical and Breast Cancer Screening At Agric Show

Michael Gwarisa

The Zimbabwe Red Cross Society (ZRCS) in partnership with the Zimbabwe Agricultural Society (ZAS) is offering free screening for cervical and breast cancer throughout this year’s Agricultural show running from 29 August to 3 September. By Staff Reporter Zimbabwe has a high burden of cervical cancer. According to the Zimbabwe National Cancer Registry, this cancer leads among malignancies in women, and constitutes 33.2% of the cancer burden in this population. Cervical cancer despite its potential preventability and curability,  remains the most common cancer in Zimbabwe and  is responsible for most…

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ZHI Launches Multimillion worth Programs to Advance HIV Prevention, Care and Treatment In Zimbabwe

Michael Gwarisa

THE Zimbabwe Health Interventions (ZHI), through support from the USAID, PEPFAR and the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC), has launched two programs, the DREAMS-RISE and ACCE initiatives in bid to reduce new HIV infections as well as economic induced vulnerabilities in Adolescents Girls and Young Women (AGYW). By Michael Gwarisa The acronym ACCE stands for, Accelerated and Comprehensive HIV Care for Epidemic Control in Zimbabwe (ACCE) while DREAMS-RISE stands for Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS Free Mentored and Safe – Re-Ignite, Innovate, Sustain and Empower (DREAMS-RISE). The two programs…

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