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‘Men die earlier than women in Zimbabwe’

THE Bible speaks of humans who lived the longest in the history of mankind, the oldest having died at the age of 969 years – Methuselah.

Those who lived the longest are all men. Although less is said about matriarchs, it’s quite clear that men lived longer back then.
Sadly, centuries later an average Zimbabwean male is expected to live for about 61, 2 years with statistics showing that men account for more deaths in the country compared to women. Women live significantly longer than men as they have a higher life expectancy of 68 years.

Life expectancy refers to the number of years a person can expect to live and it is based on an estimate of the average age that members of a particular population group will be when they die.

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Experts give COVID-19 warning

Credit: Newsday By Vanessa Gonye and Lorraine Muromo | May. 4, 2023

HEALTH experts have urged COVID-19 caution ahead of schools opening next week and the approaching winter.

Speaking to NewsDay on Tuesday, chief coordinator of the COVID-19 taskforce in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Agnes Mahomva said COVID-19 was the new normal.

 

 

“We really urge citizens to take precautions seriously so as to ensure the country does not get into a crisis again,” Mahomva said.

“As we approach winter there is need to be extra careful and to religiously follow all preventive measures.”

Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights secretary Norman Matara expressed hope that the situation this year would be similar to last year’s where there were not many casualties.

 

 

“However, there is always need for caution and continuous need for practising good hygiene as this not only protects us from COVID-19 but also protects us from other viral respiratory infections and other diarrhoeal conditions like typhoid and cholera,” he said.

Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike said there was need to limit the further spread of COVID-19 in schools by having all eligible students vaccinated.

“The standard operating procedures related to the reopening of schools should be supported with adequate resources for the safe operation of schools in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic and cholera outbreak,” Rusike said.

“We hope that the government is taking all the essential practical measures for the protection, safety, health and well-being of children, staff and the wider school communities as the country is facing the double blow pandemic considering the rise of cholera cases amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.”

 

 

During Tuesday’s post-Cabinet media briefing, government said cumulative COVID-19 cases as at April 29, 2023 stood at 264 683, with 258 914 recoveries and 5 686 deaths. There were 83 active cases, and no deaths were recorded during the week under review. There were 15 new hospital admissions, compared to the 14 recorded the previous week, with five being in intensive care.

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Harare records 21 Cholera cases

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HARARE City Council’s health services director Prosper Chonzi yesterday confirmed a cholera outbreak in the capital, and urged residents to help in keeping the disease under control.

“We now have 21 cases, seven confirmed cases and these are mainly coming from the western suburbs,” Chonzi said.

“Budiriro has four confirmed cases, Glen View 3 has two, and one from Mt Pleasant Heights. What this means is that we should take this outbreak seriously because it has the potential to spread like a veld fire. We need to be on high alert.”

This came as health experts warned that the cholera outbreak may end up developing into an uncontrollable epidemic if there is no decisive response to it.

The first cholera case was reported on February 12 this year in Chegutu, Mashonaland West province, but the waterborne disease has since spread to nine of the country’s 10 provinces.

While no case has been detected in Matabeleland North, neighbouring Matabeleland South is emerging as a hotspot.

Speaking to NewsDay yesterday, Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike said the continued presence of cholera is a cause for concern.

“The people of Zimbabwe should be worried by the continued presence of cholera in the country given that the health system has been weakened by the lack of sustainable domestic health financing, hyperinflation and outflow of health workers,” Rusike said.

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Health experts fret over cholera resurgence

Credits: Newsday By Vanessa Gonye | Apr. 10, 2023

HEALTH experts have expressed concern over the resurgence in cholera cases, which they blame on poor sanitation and a lack of long-term planning for water supplies in urban areas.

Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) executive director Itai Rusike said cholera will continue to wreak havoc until there is a long-term plan on water sanitation and hygiene intervention.

“Prolonged water cuts in most urban areas are leading to use of unsafe alternatives such as unprotected shallow wells and faecal matter-contaminated boreholes. Local government earmarks revenue for waste collection, this should not be reallocated to other spending.  Residents should be brought into monitoring waste dumping. Residents and businesses can provide initial support with clean-up campaigns but routine waste collection, water treatment services and more reliable provisioning need to be improved as a public health priority,” Rusike said.

“The mainstay of prevention of cholera is the provision of safe water, adequate sanitation, good personal hygiene, case management, surveillance and community mobilisation. Cholera vaccination may be used to complement primary measures,” he said.

Cholera, a diarrheal infectious disease continues to cause high morbidity and mortality in Zimbabwe.

Without treatment, death can occur within hours.

Health policy specialist Tinashe Mundawarara said more investment is needed to deal with cholera.

“Investments are needed to detect, prevent, control and monitor cholera.  This is further compounded by the fact that cholera is now a protracted epidemic in this country. I am not sure if government has a cost-effective strategy for border screening given that it is resource intensive,” he said.

The country is currently experiencing a new wave of cholera infections, which emanated from Chegutu and has spread across the country, bringing to 17 new cholera hotspots.

Previously, there were only four hotspots.

The new cholera hotspots are Buhera, Chegutu, Chikomba, Chimanimani, Chipinge, Chitungwiza, Chiredzi, Harare, Gokwe North, Marondera, Mazowe, Shamva, Mutare, Murehwa, Mwenezi, Seke and Wedza.

Health expert Josephat Chiripanyanga said: “We encourage people to follow guidelines for cholera prevention so as to ensure that we limit the occurrence of cholera as much as possible. There is a need to practise proper waste (human included) disposal especially in the rural areas to reduce or prevent it from spreading. We all know the adverse effects of cholera and the country has had two serious outbreaks with devastating outcomes.  It will be equally bad if we lag behind on prevention.”

As of Thursday last week, there were a cumulative 382 suspected cholera cases, two laboratory-confirmed deaths, five suspected cholera deaths and 71 laboratory-confirmed cases reported.

Health experts have warned that if no action is taken, the cholera outbreak could lead to more fatalities.