Category: REPRODUCTIVE

Lockdown Sees Spike In Unsafe Abortions In Guruve

Michael Gwarisa

RECURRING COVID-19 lockdown measures and a prolonged period outside learning institutions has resulted in increased Early Unintended Pregnancies (EUPs) in young adolescent girls, leading to a record spike in unsafe abortions amongst the 12- to 24-year-old age groups in Guruve, Mashonaland Central. By Michael Gwarisa recently in Guruve In Zimbabwe, abortion or termination of pregnancy is only permissible if the pregnancy poses a risk or threat to the life and health of the mother and child and also if the pregnancy is as a result of rape or incest. However,…

Read More

Youth Engage Trains 70 Adolescents Girls & Young Women On HIV, SRHR

Healthtimes

Youth Engage Zimbabwe, in partnership with her Her Voice Fund and Zimbabwe Community Health Intervention Research Health (ZiCHIRe), have kick-started HIV and Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) training for Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW). By Patricia Mashiri The inaugural training was held in Harare South where a total 70 AGYW aged between 15 to 27 were trained while more other trainings are already lined up for other parts of the country.The trainings are meant to increase utilization of equitable SRHR and HIV services by vulnerable AGYW, improve delivery of…

Read More

2gether 4 SRHR Programme Withers COVID-19 Storm

Michael Gwarisa

THROUGH 2gether 4 SRHR, an integrated Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) programme,  Zimbabwe has  continued offering services to young girls and women in the districts the initiative is being implemented despite the raging effects of COVID-19. By Michael Gwarisa The 2gether 4 SRHR program is a joint initiative which is being implemented  in 10 selected countries in East and Southern Africa, Zimbabwe included. The program aims among other things to reduce unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), new HIV infections, maternal mortality and sexual and gender-based violence (GBV). Speaking…

Read More

Efficient Resource Utilisation Could Alleviate SRH Challenges Faced By Adolescents – Family Planning Brand Ambassador

Healthtimes

GOVERNMENT and implementing partners in the adolescent and youth reproductive health sector should efficiently utilise available resources to lessen reproductive health challenges faced by youths especially girls and young women, Family Planning Brand Ambassador, Adiona Chidzonga has called. Own Correspondent Fielding questions from the media, in Mutare at Mutare Youth Centre, Mrs Chidzonga said there is urgent need for all stakeholders in family planning and reproductive health sector in Manicaland to start to pull in the same direction for the benefit of adolescents and youth in the province. With the…

Read More

Access To Safe Abortion Care Is A Health Need

Healthtimes

Recently, two bodies of newly born babies were found in a bin in Harare.[1] Due to a lack of accessible contraceptives during COVID-19, 5000 girls were reported to have fallen pregnant in January alone,[2] and sadly, the abandonment of unwanted babies is one of the outcomes. Unsafe abortions are another. The reality is, this could just be a tip of the iceberg of what is happening to women and girls as a result of their inability to access contraceptives. By Edinah Masiyiwa As the COVID-19 epidemic rages on, the health…

Read More

Child Marriages Not Part Of Our Culture Says Chief Charumbira

Healthtimes

ZIMBABWE Chief Council (ZCC) president, Chief Fortune Charumbira has castigated grown men who take children as their wives and described the practice as unZimbabwean. By Patricia Mashiri In an interview with HealthTimes, Chief Charumbira said men who take child brides were doing so as a disguise to abuse children and force them into marriages in the name of culture. There is no culture which promote child marriages. Long ago people married girls at the age of 20 at most. They first looked if the girl could take care of a…

Read More

HIV Positive Women Urged To Regularly Screen For Cervical Cancer

Healthtimes

THE Zimbabwe Association of Church Related Hospitals (ZACH) has warned that  women living with HIV were more prone to cervical cancer and therefore should get screened more frequently. By Patricia Mashiri Speaking during Cervical cancer and HIV and the impact of COVID-19 on screening services virtual meeting, HIV Positive Women Urged To Regularly Screen For Cervical Cancer, Dr Onai  Diura-Vere ZACH Technical Advisor said,”85 percent of women with cervical and HIV live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Women with HIV are at a higher risk of developing cervical cancer compared with HIV…

Read More

Calls To Fast track Adoption Of The Marriage Bill Get Louder

Michael Gwarisa

THE Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on women affairs together with women and girls rights advocates and organizations have called for the speedy adoption of the marriages bill which classifies child marriage as a serious criminal offense so as to end child marriages. By Michael Gwarisa Speaking during a virtual National Symposium on Child Marriages that was organized by Musasa Project, Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development Chairperson, Honorable Chido Madiwa said the high prevalence of child marriages in Zimbabwe was inconsistent with the country’s goals and development…

Read More

COVID-19 Increases Post-partum Depression Cases In Zimbabwe

Healthtimes

WOMEN have been urged to seek mental health assistance soon after birth to avoid sliding into Post-partum depression especially under the prevailing  COVID-19 pandemic. By Patricia Mashiri Post-partum depression is a form of depression that occurs after childbirth. Those who develop it are at a greater risk of developing major depression later in life. In an interview with HealthTimes, Dr Kudakwashe Muchena, a the leading Psychologist in Zimbabwe said there was need to take extra care of pregnant and post-partum women as the process of birth comes with a lot…

Read More

Ending Harmful Practices Starts With Allowing Girls & Women Bodily Autonomy- UNFPA

Michael Gwarisa
Young Preganant Women

THE United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Zimbabwe’s Assistant Country Representative, Ms Abbigail Msemburi says woman and girls should have power to make decisions over their bodies as a first step towards ending child marriages, traditional harmful practices and all forms of abuse. By Michael Gwarisa Presenting findings from the 2021 State of the World Population (SWOP) Report during a virtual commemoration of the World Population Day, Ms Msemburi said majority of women were still denied bodily autonomy and data from the SWOP indicated that half of women in 57 developing…

Read More