Category: BREAKING NEWS

19.5 million people on life-saving treatment-UNAIDS

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HealthTimes Reporter MORE than half of people living with HIV (53%) now have access to HIV treatment and AIDS related deaths have halved since 2005, UNAIDS has said. A report released by UNAIDS shows that for the first time the scales have tipped: In 2016, 19.5 million of the 36.7 million people living with HIV had access to treatment, and AIDS-related deaths have fallen from 1.9 million in 2005 to 1 million in 2016. Provided that scale-up continues, this progress puts the world on track to reach the global target…

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#BREAKING: New HIV Drug Resistant Virus Detected

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By Michael Gwarisa A new HIV Drug resistant virus has been detected in most parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed. According to its latest WHO HIV drug resistance report 2017, WHO notes that in 6 of the 11 countries surveyed in Africa, Asia and Latin America, over 10% of people starting antiretroviral therapy had a strain of HIV that was resistant to some of the most widely used HIV medicines. Once the threshold of 10% has been reached, WHO recommends those countries urgently review…

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How I Was Abducted and Forced To Marry A Stranger

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YOUNG GIRL EXPLAINS HER ABDUCTION AND FORCED MARRIAGE HORROR  By Michael Gwarisa “I was locked up for several nights and forced to have sex with her son, they hid me from the public until they forcibly moved me to Bulawayo.” It takes bravery and courage beyond human imagination to stand in front of hundreds of dignitaries from within and outside Zimbabwe and share a horrendous story of how one was forced to have sex with a total stranger and later on become his wife outside her will. For young Nicole…

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Call To Empower Men/Boys Gets Louder

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By Michael Gwarisa CIVIC Society organisations have joined hands with government and various organisations including religious and traditional groups in calling for the empowerment and inclusion of boys and men in the fight against Gender Based Violence (GBV). In an interview on the sidelines of the ongoing Youth Changing the River’s Flow symposium, SafAids Head of Programmes, Ngoni Chubukire said SafAids had embarked on a massive nationwide drive to engage all societal groups in the fight against GBV and strengthening participation by various groups in enhancing gender equality. ALSO READ:…

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Donor Reliance Threatens Family Planning Efforts- USAID

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By Staff Reporter ZIMBABWE’S high dependence on donor support threatens efforts to address family planning issues the country is facing, a top USAID official has said. ALSO READ: Zim Beats Global Family Planning Target  Speaking at the Family Planning Symposium, Hillary Chiguvare from USAID said such foreign dependency was not sustainable adding that it’s time for government to increase its allocation to health. “There is an agreement now that relying on foreign funding is not sustainable, it actually threatens family planning support and program, I think it’s now time we…

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Release Health Levy Stats says Labode… As Gov receives only $6mln

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By Staff Reporter PARLIAMENTARY Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care chairperson Dr Ruth Labode has challenged government to release current statistics for the Health Levy. The call comes amidst revelations that Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) only received US$6 million from the Health Levy without further details of the collections. Speaking at the Family Planning Symposium, Dr Labode said there is need for transparency and that mobile phone network companies need to also confirm the figures being mentioned by government. “The US$ 6 million is it for…

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Five lessons From Latest Ebola Outbreak In DRC-MSF

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Four people died in the most recent Ebola outbreak that occurred in a remote, forested area of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This small outbreak (five laboratory-confirmed and three probable cases) was quickly curtailed. The international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders (MSF) shares lessons learned from this first occurrence of the deadly virus since the end of the large-scale Ebola outbreak that devastated West Africa in 2014-2015. 1. Train frontline health teams The scale of this outbreak was minimised, thanks in no small part to a nurse named Dieumerci.…

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Zim Beats Global Family Planning Target

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By Kudakwashe Pembere Zimbabwe has achieved the FP 2020 goal of increasing contraceptive prevalence rate three years beforehand. In 2012, the Zimbabwean government at the London FP2020 summit vowed to up access to quality modern contraceptives to couples, women and girls by 2020. To fulfil this pledge precociously alongside putting into effect the National Family Planning Strategy, government consulting several stakeholders in the health sector such as UNFPA, developed the National FP Costed Implementation Plan 2016-2020. Speaking on behalf of Health and Child Care minister DR David Parirenyatwa, the ministry’s…

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Bill Gates To Fund Zim’s Primary Health Care

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By Michael Gwarisa THE Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is set to avail a sizable amount of funding towards Zimbabwe’s Primary Health Care (PHC) services in a bid to bridge the funding gap bedeviling the health sector , a top Save the Children Zimbabwe official has said. In an interview with HealthTimes on the side-lines of a Primary Health Care Budget analysis feedback meeting, Save the Children Zimbabwe Health Project Advisor Forster Matyatya     confirmed the development and said the Gates foundation has come at a time when there is…

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53 000 Benefit from US Nutrition and Sanitation Project

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Staff Reporter NOT less than 53 000 Zimbabwean citizens have benefited from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) driven Community Water Supply, Sanitation, Hygiene, and Natural Resources Management project (C-WASH). The project is being Implemented by Development Aid from People to People (DAPP) Zimbabwe and  C-WASH worked with communities to provide sustainable access to clean and safe drinking water sources and improved sanitation facilities. ALSO READ: US government allocates US$150 million towards HIV prevention  Speaking during the celebrations at Sherukuru Secondary School in Mutasa District, USAID/Zimabwe Acting Deputy Mission…

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