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Women Now Using Tobacco To Shrink Their Private Parts

January 20, 2020January 20, 2020 Michael Gwarisa

WOMEN are now applying tobacco powder and other tobacco related products on their private parts in the belief that it shrinks their genitals, increase sexual pleasure and raises the odds of getting pregnant. By Michael Gwarisa The practice of applying tobacco to the lady parts is now popular in most West African countries and has also spread to other African countries including Zimbabwe. Tobacco or “miracle recipe” as it is now called in West African countries “increases sexual pleasure tenfold” or “sends a man into the seventh heaven” and this…

Desperate Zimbos Turn To Crowd Funding For Healthcare Financing

January 20, 2020January 20, 2020 Michael Gwarisa

IN a country where medical aid coverage is less than 10 percent, ordinary Zimbabweans who can’t afford medical aid cover and health insurance have found solace in crowd funding initiatives for critical surgeries and treatment for complicated ailments. By Michael Gwarisa According to the Association of Healthcare Funders Zimbabwe (AHFoZ), medical aid coverage has dropped from a high of 10 percent in 2018 to the current 9 percent, making it untenable for majority of Zimbabweans whose life savings and hard earned cash has turned into manure since August 2018 at…

NatPharm Rebranding On Cards

January 20, 2020January 20, 2020 Healthtimes

GOVERNMENT is reconsidering renaming the National Pharmaceutical Company (NatPharm) to a yet to be discovered more extensive name, HealthTimes can reveal. By Kudakwashe Pembere Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo told HealthTimes that the ‘National Medical Pharmaceutical Warehouse’ procures more than just pharmaceutical drugs hence the need to revisit the nomenclature. In actual fact to say NatPharm that might be a misnomer and misleading. So we might have to relook into that name. “Rebranding could be very necessary. We would want to come up with a name that…

Health Minister Sets Technical Committee For Public Hospital Equipment

January 18, 2020 Healthtimes

HEALTH and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo has set up a technical committee for the coordination of hospital equipment procurement processes which is end user driven and under NatPharm. By Kudakwashe Pembere This development comes at a time when medical professionals decry obsolete equipment and user-unfriendly machines and instruments. Dr Moyo in an interview revealed his plan to replenish the public health sector with adequate, accurate and trending equipment and sundries. On Thursday, the committee was set up with Dr Harunavamwe Chifamba appointed by the Minister to chair it,…

Sudan: Lives of traumatized, displaced women in West Darfur under threat

January 17, 2020 Healthtimes

ONGOING instability in Sudan’s West Darfur region has left the lives, health and safety of thousands of women hanging in the balance, according to the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA. Since 28 December, intercommunal disputes in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) have left more than 40,000 civilians displaced, of whom an estimated 10,800, are women of reproductive age. More than 50 were killed and 60 others injured, the UN has reported, and thousands of civilians in recent weeks crossed the border into Chad, seeking refuge. Citing two flash reports…

Harare To Ban Hosepipes Use

January 17, 2020January 17, 2020 Healthtimes

HARARE City is considering banning the use of watering hosepipes as a way of curbing and containing the abuse of the scarce resource. By Kudakwashe Pembere Harare Environmental Management Committee chairperson Counsellor Kudzai Kadzombe said top on their agenda in their first meeting as a committee is to ban hosepipes. “We are facing a water crisis at the moment and we are making a resolution in our first environmental management committee next week to ban the usage of hosepipes,” she said. She explained that the reason why there are banning…

Gvt Urged To Make Realistic Commitments Towards Improving Nutrition Standards

January 17, 2020 Michael Gwarisa

THE Zimbabwe Civil Society Organisations Scaling Up Nutrition Alliance (ZCSOSUNA), has challenged government to make realistic and attainable nutrition targets ahead of the forthcoming 2020 Japan Nutrition for Growth summit. By Michael Gwarisa Addressing Journalists this morning, ZCSOSUNA Projects Officer, Kudzai Chavhunduka said government should take the Tokyo Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit to be held in December as a historic opportunity to transform the way the world tackles the global challenge of malnutrition. As the country’s Civil Society Alliance in Scaling Up Nutrition, we applaud the government of Zimbabwe for…

Top Global Pharmaceutical Firms Pledge Quality Healthcare For 1.7 Million Africans

January 16, 2020 Michael Gwarisa

JOHNSON &JOHNSON together with other major global pharmaceutical players have joined hands with Last Mile Health and Living Goods to increase access to healthcare to community based primary healthcare for nearly 1.7 million people in not less than six African countries. HealthTimes Repoter The other firms include Lilly, Novartis (Novartis.com), Pfizer (Pfizer.com), GSK (GSK.com) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (GatesFoundation.org) and the pledge is part of their shared commitment to accelerate universal health coverage. The Health Worker Training Initiative is a three-year investment, generously matched by The Audacious…

Study Endorses Psychosocial Therapy In Low and Middle Income Countries

January 16, 2020 Healthtimes

AS Zimbabwe’s Health and Child Care Ministry intends to adopt the Friendship Bench community mental health initiative, a research published on Lancet Psychiatry has shown that psychosocial therapy interventions is effective in bridging the mental health gap in low income and middle income countries. By Kudakwashe Pembere In Zimbabwe, there is a globally renowned intervention named the Friendship Bench where community health workers such as the Mbuya Utsanana and even the youth are used as psychotherapists. The Health Ministry in its 2019-2023 Mental Health Strategic Plan in the adoption of…

Boreholes Now HIV and Pregnancies Traps For Young Girls

January 16, 2020January 16, 2020 Michael Gwarisa

THE prevailing water crisis in Harare and other parts of the country exposes girls and young women to HIV infections and early unintended pregnancies (EUPs) owing to the lengthy hours they spend in long winding queues and boreholes where they end up fraternising with individuals who harbor evil intentions. By Michael Gwarisa Speaking at the launch of the Harare Zimbabwe Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (ZIMPHIA), Harare province acting provincial development coordinator Mrs Catherine Kampila said the water crisis in Harare had created a fertile breeding ground for risky sexual behaviour…