Category: Features

Nyamapanda’s Hidden Corridor: Smuggled Medicines, Bribes and National Losses

Kuda Pembere

By Kuda Pembere In the border town of Nyamapanda, about 240 kilometres north-east of Harare, a narrow footpath winds quietly into Cuchamano, on the Mozambican side of the  border. The track begins just after Nyamapanda Clinic and winds toward an unofficial crossing used by those avoiding the main border post. Motorcycles and bicycles are a common sight as we approach the point, roughly 1.5 kilometres from the clinic. It is along this thin strip of land, reachable only by motorcycle, bicycle or on foot, that an unsanctioned network of runners,…

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Young Mothers Left Behind as Sexuality Education Falters in Schools

Kuda Pembere

By Kuda Pembere In Highfield, many pregnant learners are quietly disappearing from the classroom. Every day, it is almost impossible not to see Chipo wandering barefoot around the neighbourhood. To strangers, she may appear troubled, yet her mind is sharp and her speech clear. Chipo became pregnant in 2022 at the age of 14 while attending a private independent college nearby. She has never returned to school, despite being the eldest of ten children. “I was never that bright in school, so returning is a waste of time. I have…

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When Santa Brings Joy at Christmas, Injiva Bring Infections and Unintended Pregnancies: The Hidden HIV Threat Facing Mat South Girls

Michael Gwarisa

By Michael Gwarisa in Mat South In most parts of Matabeleland South, the festive season does not only bring tinsel and holiday cheer. It brings something far more complicated. Bottle store owners and shopkeepers prepare for football tournaments that turn their businesses into instant profit zones, while a quieter and more vulnerable anticipation grows among young girls in the villages. They know the Injiva are coming. These are men returning from South Africa or Botswana with cash in hand and the confidence to spend it. For many girls, the homecoming…

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Inside Binga’s Herbal Sex Boosters: The Man Behind the Popular Guchu Remedy

Michael Gwarisa

By Michael Gwarisa  Deep in the heart of Binga, in the midst of thick forests and scorching heat, the name Siposami Chuma is synonymous with the word saviour in some circles owing to his mastery of herbs. These are not ordinary herbs but Guchu, a mixture of roots and plants ground together to form a powder he claims can turn a man into a beast in the bedroom. At least that is what he says. If there is anything African men fear the most, it is discovering that their sexual…

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How a Community Seed Bank is Helping Binga Villagers Beat Drought

Michael Gwarisa

By Michael Gwarisa in Binga Just like most parts of the country, Binga villages are preparing their land for the forthcoming 2025/26 agricultural season. The clanging of hoes against dry earth echoes across the fields as farmers race the sun to prepare their land. At one homestead, Vivian Saba greets us with a warm smile, accompanied by her mother. Vivian volunteers as treasurer of the community seed bank, an innovative seed preservation facility designed to ensure farmers have access the best-suited seeds for their environment. A few minutes later, she…

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Zimbabwe’s Top 10 Health Champions for 2025

Healthtimes

As has become tradition at HealthTimes, every year we honour leaders in the healthcare sector who are making a difference and contributing significantly to Zimbabwe’s health system. This year, we are doing things differently. We have categorised the champions according to their sectors or areas of influence, focusing on innovation and the strategies that healthcare leaders in Zimbabwe have employed to overcome the hurdles facing the sector. The year 2025 brought new disruptions to the country’s healthcare system, following the withdrawal of donor funding for a number of programmes. However,…

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Vilon Peptide: A Minimalist Bioregulator with Expansive Potential

Michael Gwarisa

Vilon, a synthetic dipeptide composed of lysine and glutamic acid (Lys-Glu), has emerged as a molecule of growing interest in the field of bioregulatory peptide research. Despite its minimal structure, Vilon is theorized to exert a wide range of biological supports, particularly in the domains of immunomodulation, gene expression regulation, and cellular aging. Originally developed by researchers at the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology, Vilon belongs to a class of short peptides that are hypothesized to interact with chromatin and support gene transcription. Its simplicity, coupled with its…

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Funding Cuts Push Zimbabwe to Consider Reusable Circumcision Kits

Michael Gwarisa

By Michael Gwarisa Zimbabwe is exploring the use of reusable circumcision kits to sustain voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) services amid declining international funding and the gradual withdrawal of donor support. VMMC has been a key HIV prevention tool in Zimbabwe, credited with significantly reducing new HIV infections since the program’s launch in 2009. At its peak in 2012, the program recorded over 1.1 million circumcisions, contributing to the national goal of achieving 80% coverage among adult males and newborns. In the long term, Zimbabwe aimed to maintain around 150,000…

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DNA reveals the real killers that brought down Napoleon’s army

Healthtimes

By Linda Gedde Napoleon’s march on Moscow remains one of history’s most catastrophic military retreats. As his army withdrew, tens of thousands perished. But what killed them? There was hunger and cold, but also a mysterious illness that was long thought to be typhus. Now, more than two centuries later, DNA from the soldiers’ teeth is rewriting that history, suggesting the answer instead could be bacteria that cause enteric and relapsing fevers. “It’s very exciting to use a technology we have today, to detect and diagnose something that was buried for…

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The Slap That Sparked Malaria Awareness Among Makonde Artisanal Miners

Kuda Pembere

By Kuda Pembere in Makonde By the banks of the Angwa River in Makonde District, James, an artisanal miner, vividly recalls the night his friend slapped him across the face. That slap, meant to kill a mosquito, set off a chain of events that ended up saving his life. In May 2025, James and his friend Jeremiah were digging for gold at night. Unaware of how malaria spreads, James thought the sting was nothing serious. The slap was hard. I just thought so were his palms. He showed me the…

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