Category: BREAKING NEWS

Integrated Specimen Transportation System Modernises Zimbabwe’s Disease Diagnostics and Monitoring Systems

Michael Gwarisa

By Michael Gwarisa in Bulawayo Zimbabwe has scaled-up disease diagnosis, treatment as well as improve success monitoring management of patients at the back of an Integrated Specimen Transportation (IST) system, the HealthTimes has learnt. Funded by the Global Fund, through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the IST program is being implemented by the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC), through the Biomedical Research and Training Institute (BRTI). The IST program was rolled out in 2021, and is now in 63 districts and 2000 health facilities, where it aims…

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USAID and OCP Forge Partnership to Revolutionize African Agriculture

Michael Gwarisa

By Staff Reporter In a landmark move for African agricultural advancement, USAID and OCP Group, the world leader in plant nutrition solutions and phosphate-based fertilizers, have partnered to tackle critical barriers hindering Africa’s agricultural potential. During a visit to University Mohammed VI Polytechnic, Ms. Samantha Power – USAID Administrator – signed a collaborative agreement to pursue two sustainable and innovative initiatives designed to enhance agricultural efficiency and productivity across the continent: The Space to Place Project will gather accurate local soil and climate data which will provide the basis for…

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Hope on the Horizon As New TB Vaccine Trials Kick Off

Healthtimes

Hundred years later after the first Tuberculosis Vaccine was developed, a new TB vaccine is on the horizon. By Mandy Collins Imagine a world where TB doesn’t steal millions of lives each year. That dream might be inching closer, thanks to a groundbreaking vaccine trial kicking off in South Africa. Towards the end of March 2024, the first doses of potentially the first new tuberculosis (TB) vaccine in a century were administered at a clinical trial site in Johannesburg, South Africa, marking a crucial step in the fight against this…

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#BREAKING: Health Ministry Appoints Dr Kavenga, Madzikwa To Substantive Roles

Healthtimes

By Staff Reporter The Ministry of Health and Child Care has made two key appointments to the Pharmaceutical as well as Tuberculosis Control divisions. The two recent appointees are Dr Fungai Kavenga who has been promoted to the position of Deputy Director TB and Prevention Control, and Mr Newman Madzikwa who has been appointed substantive Director Pharmacy Services. Dr Kavenga is a medical doctor and Public Health specialist with over 10 years in TB and HIV programing. He has worked in the Private sector, Civil Society Organisations and Public Sectors…

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Health Minister To Present National Health Insurance Bill in parliament in July

Kuda Pembere

By Kuda Pembere The Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) is preparing to table the much anticipated National Health Insurance Bill in Parliament come July this year, HealthTimes has learnt. While in a previous interview with this publication, the Health and Child Care Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora had promised the NHI would be rolled out by July this year, Zimbabweans may have to wait a bit longer as this is the time the NHI bill to govern the scheme’s operationalization may be presented to Parliament. So these are proposals…

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Zimbabwe Validates Multi-Sectoral Accountability Framework for TB Findings

Michael Gwarisa

By Michael Gwarisa In a bid to accelerate progress to end Tuberculosis (TB) by the year 2030, Zimbabwe has developed and endorsed its Multi-Sectorial Accountability Framework for Tuberculosis (MAF-TB) framework for TB baseline assessment findings. Launched in January 2023 in Zimbabwe, the MAF-TB aims to support the effective accountability of government and all stakeholders in the country, to accelerate progress to end the tuberculosis epidemic; and to be aligned fully with the End TB Strategy and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Development of MAF-TB in Zimbabwe was done by…

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Community-based TB treatment highly effective in Togo

Michael Gwarisa

By Staff Reporter New research finds that a community-based approach to delivering TB treatment is highly effective at achieving successful TB treatment outcomes in Togo. The Union led the study in partnership with Togo’s National TB Programme (NTP) and the World Health Organization’s Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases. The researchers found that 93% of participants had favourable outcomes after six months (e.g. cured and/or completed treatment) through a community health worker-led approach to supervising treatment intake, compared to 78% through a family member supervising treatment intake.…

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AHFoZ Conference on Health slated for September

Healthtimes

The Association of Healthcare Funders of Zimbabwe (AHFoZ) will host its Annual “All Stakeholders Conference on Health”,  from 4-7 September 2024, at the Elephant Hills Resort in Victoria Falls. This prestigious event will bring together medical aid societies, healthcare professionals, policymakers, suppliers, medical aid member representatives, and all stakeholders from across the country and beyond, to discuss and explore strategies for improving healthcare outcomes. Under the theme “Zooming in on our Healthcare Outcomes: Making the main thing the main thing,” the conference aims to highlight the importance of focusing on…

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African Region Triumphs Over Wild Polio Type 1

Michael Gwarisa

Brazzaville/Lilongwe/Maputo – Following thorough assessments in Malawi and Mozambique, an independent Polio Outbreak Response Assessment Team (OBRA) today recommended the closure of the wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) outbreak in Malawi and Mozambique, marking a significant milestone in the fight against polio in the African region. The last WPV1 case in the African Region, linked to a strain circulating in Pakistan, was reported in Mozambique´s Tete Province in August 2022. A total of nine cases were detected in Mozambique and neighbouring Malawi, where the outbreak was declared in February 2022.…

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United For Prevention Coalition Sensitises Parliament on Need to Integrate Drug and Substance Abuse In the National HIV Prevention Response

Michael Gwarisa

By Michael Gwarisa In a bid to capacitate members of Parliament with information and share the latest data and trends regarding the scourge of drug and substance abuse in Zimbabwe, SAFAIDS recently held a one-day capacity-building workshop with members from the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health. While traditional methods of administering drugs and substances such as smoking and ingestion remain prevalent, the latest trends such as drug injection and Bluetooth or Flashblood whereby a syringe full of intoxicated blood is passed from someone who has just injected heroin to someone…

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