Category: SRHR

Domestic Violence cases rise in Zimbabwe

Healthtimes

There has been an unprecedented rise in domestic violence cases in Zimbabwe. This has impelled the government to formulate and implement reactive laws to address the menace. One such instance has been the crafting of the Zimbabwe Domestic Violence Act (DVA) of 2007. By Own Correspondant  Thirty-year-old Sinakaniwe Ndlovu (not real name) still shivers with fear when she thinks of the ill treatment she received at the hands of her husband during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Ndlovu was forced to endure all the abuse in fear of being stigmatized and…

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As International Safe Abortion Day Draws Closer, Its Time To Reflect on progress towards access to safe abortion for women and girls

Healthtimes

The 28th of September is International Safe Abortion Day, and it has two themes: “Diverse Actions, Different Places, One Demand: Access to Safe and Legal Abortion Now” and “Abortion in Uncertain Times.” By Edinah Masiyiwa These themes speak to me as an advocate for sexual and reproductive health and rights, and they give me energy to continue working on safe abortion access. They communicate that firstly, we will achieve access to safe abortion through working in our different spaces from research, to advocacy, to awareness raising at community and policy…

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Musasa One Stop Centre Assists 500 GBV Survivors

Michael Gwarisa

THE Hopley One Stop Centre being run by Musasa Project through support from the UNFPA and the ministry of Women Affairs, Community Development, has served a total 500 women and girls who experienced GBV and other forms of violence over the past 10 months. By Michael Gwarisa Hopley has a high incidence of GBV as well as other harmful practices such as Child Marriages and teenage pregnancies which are at 18% respectively while 70% of women in Hopley are mothers by age 24. Speaking during a visit to  centre by…

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New UNFPA Regional Director Tours Tariro Clinic and Youth Centre in Hopely

Michael Gwarisa

RECENTLY appointed United Nations Population Fund East and Southern Africa (UNFPA-ESA) Regional Director, Ms Lydia Zigomo Nyatsanza who is in the country on a mission visit, has applauded Tariro Clinic and Youth Centre for coming through to offer a range of healthcare services as well as life-skills training to vulnerable groups in Hopley. By Michael Gwarisa Tariro Clinic and Youth Centre  was born out of a 2017 partnership between the UNFPA, ILO, Lafarge Holchim Cement and the City of Harare which aims to improve sexual reproductive health (SRHR) outcomes of…

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Abortion policy and the vicious cycle of poverty

Healthtimes

By Memory Pamella Kadau The previous instalment submitted that abortion doesn’t bring about a moral dilemma as middle ground propagation would argue. It’s clear that safe abortion services should be made accessible to women and this demands policy and legal reforms. This article explored how existing policy framework on abortion perpetuates the vicious cycle of poverty on women and fuels child sexual abuse termed ‘child marriages’. Abortion and poverty Poverty wears the face of a woman and the untold story is that hundreds of thousands of women are trapped in…

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We need to avert teen pregnancies in SADC to build back better

Michael Gwarisa
Young Preganant Women

The 2gether 4 SRHR programme (UNAIDS, UNICEF, UNFPA, and WHO) in partnership with the Clinton Health Access Initiative, hosted a dialogue on high-impact practices on 11 September 2022, to avert teen pregnancies in the SADC region. By Staff Reporter The hybrid discussion was a call to action for decision-makers and public health professionals to ensure teenage pregnancy is curbed. University of Cape Town researcher Silinganisiwe Dzumbunu highlighted that key drivers of teenage pregnancy include poverty, natural disasters and climate change that lead to food and resource insecurity, and harmful cultural…

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Comprehensive Post Abortion Care is an Essential Component of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Critical for the Attainment of Health Related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Healthtimes

In my years of experience working in sexual reproductive health (SRH), the most topical debates include the topics of unintended pregnancies, teenage pregnancies, sexual gender based violence (SGBV), and abortion among others. Termination of Pregnancy (abortion) is one of the most controversial and emotive issues across the social realm in a conservative society like Zimbabwe. The main thrust of social-cultural discussions in sexual reproductive health is around prevention of unintended pregnancies thus avoiding the topic of abortion completely. However, the dilemma is when prevention fails, what happens next? The Zimbabwe…

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The Politics of The Uterus

Healthtimes

The Lack of Adequate Information and Awareness on Safe Abortion Services among Young Women and Girls is Promoting Continuous Clandestine Abortions By Mufaro Musiyazviriyo The term abortion, generally makes people uncomfortable! In my work as a Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) Program Officer, often times, I conduct awareness raising trainings and focus group discussions on SRHR issues with young women and girls in tertiary institutions and communities, where incidents of unsafe abortions have been reported. I have made it a habit to begin my introductions by mentioning the term…

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Costly Hormonal Therapies Force Zim Trans Community To Get Shots from the streets

Michael Gwarisa

Teckler (31) is a transgender women from Highfields in Harare. Even though she was born a man, Tekcler says she had always struggled with the notion of waking up in a strange body every single day of her life. In her own words, she has always viewed herself as a woman and was always determined to be identified as one at some point in life. By Michael Gwarisa At the age of 20 when she enrolled in University in 2011, she once shocked her neighbourhood when she turned home for…

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SADC Youth Helpline 393 Launched In Zimbabwe

Michael Gwarisa

IN a bid to bridge existing HIV information gaps and access to care for adolescents and young people, Youth Advocates Zimbabwe (YAZ), working with the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) and the National AIDS Council (NAC) have launched the SADC Youth Helpline to facilitate dialogue and openness between healthcare service providers and young people. By Michael Gwarisa The 393 Youth Helpline national contact center will be piloted in three districts in the SADC region namely, Francistown in Botswana, Zomba in Malawi and Zvishavane in Zimbabwe. The project also…

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