ZIMBABWE’S First Lady Auxillia Mnanangwa has bemoaned poor health seeking behaviour among Zimbabweans which sees them succumb to untreatable advanced cancers.
By Kudakwashe Pembere
She said this while officiating the World Cancer Day Commemorations on February 4, 2020 themed ‘I am and I will’.
“We have had challenges of poor seeking behaviour among our communities. This may be attributed to cultures and beliefs that are negative and can impact facilities and the nation’s productivity. This is the time to encourage each other to take action and seek assistance from our health practitioners so that the disease is diagnosed early,” said the First Lady.
With Zimbabwe in 2019 enabling through law, palliative care nurses to prescribe morphine to cancer patients requiring palliative care, the First Lady noted the need to train more nurses in early detection of cancer.
“There is need to continuously train healthcare staff in the early detection of cancer and management of cancer as this is a specialised area that needs unique and continuous learning as well as adopting new technologies that can help us in the treatment of cancer,” she said.
Speaking on behalf of Health and Child Care Minister was Curative Services Director Dr Sydney Makarawu who said government is working on reviewing the national cancer control and prevention strategy.
“The ministry together with its partners is working towards developing a successor cancer strategy to run from 2021 to 2025 which will be in alignment with the National Health Strategy 2021 to 2025,” he said.
The Minister added that they are going to conduct Non Communicable Disease Risk factor surveys in the first quarter of 2020 as the last one was done in 2015.
World Health Organisation Zimbabwe Country Representative Dr Alex Gasasira commended the Zimbabwe despite the prevailing economic challenges in implementing HPV Vaccinations.
Marondera Provincial Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Celestino Dhege bemoaned the lack of current studies and surveys of cancer in Zimbabwe.
