Category: BREAKING NEWS

“Politicians Should Stop Flying Outside For Healthcare”

Healthtimes

By Michael Gwarisa  POLITICAL leaders have been blamed for the continued demise of  the local health infrastructure and facilities owing to their frequent visits abroad to seek health attention, shunning local services. Briefing a UHC2030 Civil Society Engagement meeting this morning in the capital, Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) executive director Mr Itai Rusike said as long as there is no political will in addressing challenges bedeviling the health sector, we can forget about achieving health targets and health rights. “As long as there is  no political will, and…

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#BREAKING: New Twist To Harare Hospital Mortuary Saga

Healthtimes

HealthTimes Reporter HARARE Hospital has denied links to  media reports doing rounds of a woman who was wrongly pronounced dead only to wake up amongst the dead in  a Harare Hospital morgue a few months back. Impeccable sources at the Health institution who spoke to HealthTimes professed ignorance of the occurrence  citing that such information could just emanate from a disgruntled woman who might have been either mistreated at the hospital and was paying back tarnishing the organisation. “Such allegations can just come from someone who has an issue with…

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Rwanda Overtakes Zimbabwe On Health Funding

Healthtimes

By Michael Gwarisa ZIMBABWE continues to lag behind in terms of allocating domestic financial resources to the health sector, falling far behind civil war stricken countries like Rwanda. According to a report dubbed “The African Regional Framework For The Implementation Of  The Global Strategy On Human Resources For Health :Workforce 2030” which was presented during the ongoing WHO 67th Regional conference in Vic falls, Rwanda was amongst the few African countries which managed to meet the Abuja Declaration target which states that governments should at least dedicate 15 percent towards…

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Regional Medicines Authority On The Cards

Healthtimes

By Michael Gwarisa  THE Southern African region is in the process of setting up a regional African Medicines Agency (AMA) that will oversee issues of medicines control in a bid to curb the movement of counterfeit medicines in the region. Speaking to Journalists on the sidelines of the ongoing 67th WHO Regional conference in Victoria Falls, African Union Head of Division Health, Nutrition and Population Department of Social Affairs, Dr Margaret Agama- Anyeti said the the AU was tasked by regional health  ministers to set up the the authority by 2018.…

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Hatcliff Residents Use Chlorine Tablets For Washing Clothes

Healthtimes

“We thank CWHG and the City Health department for installing these inline chlorinates, we are now assured that we wont have abuse of tablets as they are enclosed in the Chlorinators…..” By Michael Gwarisa RESIDENTS in Hatcliff area in Harare are using Chlorine tablets meant for purifying water as washing soap despite the  area having been declared a hot Typhoid zone due to the  Typhoid outbreak which swept across the area early this year, HealthTimes can reveal. These revelations were made by Hatcliff Councilor Naboth Manyengera during a Clean-up campaign…

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WHO Moves To Curb 2nd Line ARV Stock-outs

Healthtimes

By Michael Gwarisa  THE World Health Organisation (WHO) is in the process of engaging Pharmaceutical and drug manufacturing companies to negotiate on the pricing of second line Anti Retro-viral drugs to assist Zimbabwe and other struggling third world countries to ensure they access the lifesaving drugs at affordable prices. The development come in the midst of reports that Zimbabwe is experiencing massive second line Abacavir ARV drug stock-outs, putting more than 30 000 lives at risk of developing HIV drug resistance owing to discontinued uptake of  ARVs.  Briefing Journalists in…

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#BREAKING: NAC Targets Informal Sector Over AIDS Levy

Healthtimes

By Michael Gwarisa THE National Aids Council (NAC) is engaging government and policy makers to consider taxing the informal sector in a bid to beef up the Aids Levy coffers which are reportedly dwindling. Briefing Journalists during a Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) media engagement meeting in the capital, NAC’s National Advocacy Coordinator Trust Govera said AIDS levy collections fell in 2016 and measures were currently underway to increase domestic financing for HIV related programs and taxing the informal sector was one of them. “Government is in the process…

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Strict Medical Aid Law On The Cards

Healthtimes

By Michael Gwarisa PUBLIC consultations to the Medical Aid Societies Bill have commenced amid indications that the new law could usher in provisions that could completely change the medical aid societies sector’s operations. Briefing medical practitioners and members of various medical aid societies during the Medical Aid public consultative meeting this morning, Pathologist in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Dr Maxwell Hove said the proposed bill was meant plug leakages and loopholes that currently exist under the current Statutory Instrument. “If you look closely, you see that there are…

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Allocate Foreign Currency Towards ARV Procurement-CWGH

Healthtimes

By Michael Gwarisa  THE Community Working Group on Heath (CWGH), has  called on government to prioritise allocation of foreign currency towards the procurement of Anti Retro Viral medicines ARVs amid revelations of massive ARV stockouts at public health centres and pharmacies. CWGH Executive director Itai Josh Rusike said it was disheartening that Zimbabwe which over the years made tremendous gains in reducing HIV/AIDS related deaths through multi-sectoral efforts, is now experiencing a serious shortage of Abacavir – a second line ARV drug to the extent that people taking that drug are…

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Hepatitis E Plagues Nigeria’s Borno State

Healthtimes

HealthTimes Reporter While the humanitarian situation has improved to some extent in several locations in northeastern Nigeria’s Borno State, it is disturbing that hundreds of people in the Ngala camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) have been infected with Hepatitis E due to poor living conditions and flooding, MSF has said. The highly contagious disease has spread quickly through the camp with 400 cases reported and four pregnant women dying in the past two months. “The situation in Ngala is very worrying,” says Nicoletta Bellio, Doctors Without Borders (MSF)’s medical…

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