Category: #COVID19

LANDMARK MOVE: South Africa & India propose no patents on COVID-19 medicines, tools during pandemic

Michael Gwarisa

IN a landmark move, India and South Africa on 2 October asked the World Trade Organization (WTO) to allow all countries to choose to neither grant nor enforce patents and other intellectual property (IP) related to COVID-19 drugs, vaccines, diagnostics and other technologies for the duration of the pandemic, until global herd immunity is achieved. This bold step is akin to efforts by governments nearly 20 years ago, which spearheaded the use of affordable generic HIV/AIDS medicines, and, if approved, could signal a major turning point in countries’ response to…

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Zvisikana Zvidiki Zvotengesa Bonde MuChiredzi

Michael Gwarisa

INGUVA dzepfumbamwe Manheru, vazhinji muguta re Chiredzi vakugadizirira kunorara kuti vafumo bata jongwe muromo vakananga kumabasa zuva rinoteverea. Vutunga huri mubishi kuita ma press up hwakamirira kuti vanhu varare huwane kusvusvura. Na Michael Gwarisa ari Muchiredzi Nechekure, kurikunzwika Redhiyo ichidandauka zvekuti huyai muone. Miridzo nemheterwa zvirikuridzwa kuratidza kuti vanhu vari kutamba chipisi. Haungatombofungiri kuti kune Lockdown. Mukuru umwe atakataura naye akati iye mhere mhere iyi yainge ichibva kubhawa re Chigarapasi, rinova zvakare bhawa gururusa kupinda mamwe ose munyika yeZimbabwe. Tati fambe Chinhamwe takananga kwaibva neruzha, takaona mumugagwa unoenda ku Chigarapasi…

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#JUSTIN: Lancet Sets Up Lab At Vic Falls Airport To Test Visitors

Michael Gwarisa

LANCET Clinical Laboratories has established a laboratory at the Victoria Falls Airport with the aim of testing arriving tourists and the visiting public to curb the spread of the COVID-19. By Michael Gwarisa Briefing Journalists  during a Post Cabinet briefing, Information, publicity and broadcasting service, Senator Monica Mutsvangwa said the move was part of  measures to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 following the easing of lockdown restrictions which have also seen restrictions on both inbound and outbound international travel being lifted. With regard to laboratory facilities, Cabinet noted that…

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ZICHIRE’s Safe Spaces Program Rescues UMP & Mudzi Women Who Experienced GBV During Lockdown

Michael Gwarisa

THE Zimbabwe Community Health Intervention Research (ZICHIRE) is implementing a program dubbed the “Safe Spaces” program in Mudzi and Uzumba, Maramba and Pfungwe (UMP) with the aim of empowering women who experienced Gender Based Violence (GBV) during the COVID-19 induced lockdown. By Michael Gwarisa The humanitarian project is also aimed at capacitating and building resilient communities so as to prevent abuse at grassroots level. In an interview with HealthTimes, ZICHIRE Programs Manager, Mr Walter Chikanya said empowering women economically was one sure way of reducing GBV. The program that we…

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Disabled & HIV Positive Chiredzi 24-Year-Old Retired Sex Worker Speaks Out

Michael Gwarisa

RODHA (24) (real name protected) is a young girl living with a disability of the limbs. She has Locomotor Disability, a form of disability which affects the limbs and hinders one’s movement from point A to B. She has been walking on Clutches since she was a little girl.  In 2013, Rodha fled her rural home in Chivi where she lived with her uncle and his wife. By Michael Gwarisa recently in Chiredzi Despite her condition, she says her uncle would verbally and physically abuse her, accusing her of philandering…

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Lions Clubs donate US$10 000 PPEs to Zimbabwe

Healthtimes

Lions Clubs of District 412 on Wednesday donated Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to frontline staff at Wilkins Hospital and Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals. HealthTimes Reporter The donation of PPEs, which was also extended to other hospitals in Midlands and Bulawayo, is part of Lions Clubs International US$10 000 kit to help Zimbabwe copy with the Covid-19 pandemic. John Mwinjilo, the Lions Multiple District 412A Chairman of Public Relations, said Lions Clubs International found it fit to donate PPEs to frontline staff in Zimbabwe as a way of protecting them against…

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Masvingo, Chiredzi Sees Spike in STI Infections In Adolescent Girls During COVID-19

Michael Gwarisa

AS government continues to ease COVID-19 restrictions, health institutions in Masvingo urban and Chiredzi district have started witnessing a surge in Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) amongst young girls aged between 13 and 24, HealthTimes can reveal. By Michael Gwarisa recently in Masvingo The increase in new STI infections according to the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC), has been driven largely by travel and tight lockdown restrictions which characterized the initial stages of the lockdown period, a period where access to Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services was disrupted. In…

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In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic UNFPA and partners call for greater efforts to ensure access to contraceptives for women and girls

Michael Gwarisa

IN the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic and on World Contraception Day, the UN’s reproductive health and rights agency – the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and partners have called for greater efforts to ensure access to contraceptives for women and girls of reproductive age. This is towards “Zero unmet Need for Contraception” even during emergency and humanitarian situations. HealthTimes Reporter World Contraceptive Day is commemorated each year on 26 September. Launched in 2007, the day was set aside to help raise awareness on contraception to enable young people…

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New normal could drive the future

Healthtimes

…thinking outside the box to adapt THE upheaval of 2020 from a virus goes down in history as the worst to impact the global village negatively. By Catherine Murombedzi Humanity must learn to adapt, adopt and adept to the new frontier of 2020. It is a watershed that sets a new normal. Painful as it is, life will never be the same again after 2020. History repeats itself In 1918, a similar virus sent the world in panic mode. More than 50 million people said a ‘premature and permanent good night’…

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Zim Young People Living With HIV Forced To Bribe Hospital Staff To Get Second Line Drugs, Told To Produce Empty ARVs Containers At Security Checkpoints To Prove They Are HIV+ During Early Stages Of Lockdown

Michael Gwarisa

LIFE under the COVID-19 induced lockdown has never been the same since the day the Zimbabwean government announced a nationwide lockdown which commenced on March 30, 2020. For most young people living with HIV and on treatment, the emotional scars the lockdown has inflicted on them will take time to heal, as they had to surrender some of their rights and dignity just to access lifesaving Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs. By Michael Gwarisa For 22-year-old Takudzwa who lives in Harare and on second line Antiretroviral (ARVs) treatment, accessing HIV treatment under…

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