Category: REPRODUCTIVE

Zim’s New Age Of Consent Law Wont Address Unintended Pregnancies Crises

Michael Gwarisa

By Edinah Masiyiwa In response to the pressure from early marriages and the rise of adolescent pregnancy, a new law was passed in Zimbabwe that raised the age for sexual consent from 16 to 18 years. This is known as the Criminal Laws Amendment (Protection of Children and Young Persons Act 2024) and it criminalises having sex with persons under the age of 18 years. The law also criminalises deliberate infection of the child with HIV or any other sexually transmitted disease. This is a law that has been passed because Zimbabweans…

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37 Years A Slave To Obstetric Fistula: Gogo Nyazvigo Finally Gets Repaired

Healthtimes

By Patricia Mashiri At age 13 In 1987, a few years after Zimbabwe had attained her independence, Gogo Memory Nyazvigo now 50, from Mudzi, Nyamapanda went to the health facility expecting to deliver her first child. Unfortunately, she lost the baby during childbirth as he came head first and got stuck in the birth canal, prompting doctors to conduct an emergency cesarean section. A few days that followed, she started experiencing something unusual. She would mess her clothes and would pass out urine uncontrollably, a condition known as Obstetric Fistula.…

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The Adultification of Pregnant Children Seeking Antenatal Care in Harare

Healthtimes

By Chipo Tsitsi Mlambo The adultification of pregnant children refers to a bias in which adults treat minors as if they possess the maturity and understanding of adults. In Zimbabwe, this bias is particularly evident when pregnant children seek antenatal care in urban centers like Harare. Phrases such as “Watoo amai, watokura” (You are now a mother, you are a grown-up) or “Wakaita zvevakuru” (You engaged in a grown-up act i.e. sex) imply that once a girl becomes pregnant, she is no longer viewed as a 14 or 15- year-old…

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Fresh Calls to Amend Zimbabwe’s 47-Year-Old Abortion Law Gather Momentum

Healthtimes

By Ntokozo Gudu Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) championing women and girls’ rights in Zimbabwe have called for the urgent amendment of the Termination of Pregnancy Act (TOP), in order to reduce the high maternal deaths associated with unsafe abortions in the country. Zimbabwe is using a Termination of Pregnancy (ToP) Act that was enacted in 1977 which many Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) believe no longer serves the prevailing challenges faced by women and girls. According to the 1977 law, abortion is allowed under the restricted circumstances of rape,…

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Zimbabwe Launches E-learning Platform For Midwifery

Kuda Pembere

By Kuda Pembere in Chinhoyi CHINHOYI School of Midwifery is one of the six pilot nursing schools selected to conduct studies using an e-learning platform for midwifery. The platform, a first of its kind in the country and was created to close the gap created by the shortage of midwifery tutors in Zimbabwe due to brain drain. Officiating the launch, acting Health and Child Care Minister, Professor Paul Mavima said the e-learning platform for midwifery learning shows the Ministry of Health’s commitment to move towards improving learning experience through incorporating…

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Health Resilience Fund Support Enhances Uptake Of Long-Term Family Planning Methods In Matabeleland South

Michael Gwarisa

By Michael Gwarisa in Gwanda The risk of unplanned pregnancies is very high in the absence of Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives (LARCs) Family planning methods. Women in low-resource settings experience interruptions that may increase the risk of unintended and unplanned pregnancies. In most cases, the poorest couples have the highest fertility, the lowest contraceptive use and the highest unmet need for contraception. In Gwanda, Matabeleland South, women such Florence Kungai (31), from Gwanda who in the past experienced two separate occasions of contraceptive failure due to interruptions in her schedule, now…

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New Study Shows Black Girls Are Getting Their Period Earlier

Healthtimes

By Staff Reporter While the ideal age for girls in their first period ranges from 10 and 15 years old, a new study has found that girls of colour, particularly Black girls, are beginning their menstrual cycles at younger ages than their peers, HealthTimes has learnt. The study titled “Menarche and Time to Cycle Regularity Among Individuals Born Between 1950 and 2005 in the US” was conducted by Professor Zifan Wang et al and examined the menstrual trends in girls to explore some of the factors leading to an early…

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After Dropping Out Of School Due to An Early Marriage, Mhondoro Adolescent Girl Traces Footsteps Back To Classroom

Michael Gwarisa

By Michael Gwarisa in Chegutu When COVID-19 hit in 2020, everything came to a standstill as governments worldwide clamped down on services to pave way for the effective management of the disease. Unfortunately, the education sector was also affected, and learning was suspended. This, however, increased the vulnerability of girls from poor backgrounds as many were driven into early marriages to escape from the effects of poverty and hunger that characterised the pandemic period. One such girl is Theresa Garikai (21), from Katawa Village, from Mhondoro Mubaira, Chegutu District, who…

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The Need For Youth-Friendly Adolescent Sexual And Reproductive Health Services

Healthtimes

By Olindah Tariro Chademana According to the United Nations, youths are individuals aged between 15 and 24 years. Youth-friendly services, as defined by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), are health services that respect the rights of young people and take their diverse sexual and reproductive lives into account. The World Health Organisation (WHO) supports this definition and adds that youth-friendly health services should be trusted and catered specifically to young people, with the principles of accessibility, acceptability, equity, appropriateness, and effectiveness in mind. It is crucial that health and…

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Taking Pregnancy Testing To Women’s Doorstep: How Village Health Workers Are Bridging the Maternal Health Divide In Rural Mutare

Michael Gwarisa

By Michael Gwarisa Zimbabwe is currently on a positive trajectory regarding maternal health amidst indications of a decline in maternal mortality at the back of numerous interventions by the government and several partners. Data from the Zimbabwe Statistics Agency (Zimstat) Vital Statistics report of 2023 shows that infant and maternal mortality rates have declined by 20 and 36 percent respectively. The 2022 Population and Housing Census data shows that maternal mortality in Zimbabwe reduced from 960 per 100,000 live births in 2010, to 363 in 2022. Despite the milestones recorded,…

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