Category: News

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Zim cholera cases rise to 98

Credits: Newsday By Vanessa Gonye | Mar. 17, 2023

ZIMBABWE recorded 31 new suspected cholera cases on Wednesday, bringing the total to 98, with health experts, calling on local authorities to improve access to water and sanitation to avert a national disaster.

In a daily situation report on Wednesday, the Health and Child Care ministry said there was one casualty, while three of the suspected cases tested positive to the diarrhoeal disease on the day.

“The 31 new suspected cholera cases and 3 laboratory confirmed cases were reported today (Wednmesday). These were reported from Centenary (15), Beitbridge (11), Chegutu (4) and Chivi (1),” the ministry said.

“Fourteen of the suspected cases and one suspected death brought in dead (BID) were Mozambican nationals from Kadunje Village who sought treatment at Chiwenga Clinic, Centenary district, Mashonaland Central province, bordering Mozambique.”

The first two cholera case were recorded in Chegutu last month.

“As of 15 March 2023, one case is hospitalised at Chivi District Hospital Cholera Treatment Unit (CTU), Masvingo province. Zimbabwe has 98 suspected cholera cases, eight confirmed cases, 97 recoveries and one death,” the ministry said.

The country’s worst cholera outbreak occurred in 2008, which left more than 4 000 dead and another 40 000 infected.

Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike said recurrent cholera outbreaks exposed lack of maintenance of the country’s water and sewer reticulation infrastructure.

“Inadequate access to water and sanitation infrastructure is a major source of health challenges and disease outbreaks such as cholera,” Rusike said.

“The aging and unrepaired sewer systems, waste put in sewers due to poor waste collection, illegal waste dumps, overflowing septic tanks and frequent water and power cuts are also causative factors. Most sewerage reticulation systems and treatment works are in a state of disrepair, raising the risk of diarrhoeal diseases including cholera.”

Tinashe Mundawarara, a health policy specialist said Zimbabwe needs to improve its access to water and sanitation.

“From a policy perspective, our health system will always be judged on its responsiveness, that is, will the Ministry of Health be able to stop the spread and at the same time ensure adequate health care provision for those with immediate need? The next few days will be critical on these two issues and funding will be an urgent need,” Mundawarara said.

 

 

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More men dying than women: ZimStat

Credits: Newsday By Priveledge Gumbodete | Mar. 15, 2023

ZIMBABWEAN men are dying more than women, latest statistics from the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat) have revealed.

The report, based on the 2022 population and housing census, shows that 120 070 deaths were recorded during the census with 53,6% of the dead being men and 46,4% being women.

Last year, ZimStat preliminary national census results revealed that females constitute the majority of the population, numbering 7 889 421 or 52%, compared to the male population of 7 289 588 (48%).

This was also followed by another set of results showing that life expectancy for females now stands at 68 years compared to male life expectancy which is 61,2 years.

“A total of 120 070 deaths were recorded during the census. Male deaths constituted 53,6% of the total deaths recorded during the census. Throughout all age groups, males had higher mortality rates compared to females,” the report read.

Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike said health-seeking behaviour among men is poor compared to women.

Rusike said clients at health centres are often women and children less than five years.

“There is a particular focus in primary healthcare on women and children due to their vulnerability and the fact that their ill-health affects the wider community. Apart from the general inputs that all people need for health, women also need services to support safe reproductive health, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of infections such as HIV, child delivery and care, including nutrition during pregnancy,” Rusike said.

“The spread of health information, improvement of nutrition, safe living and community environments are key to disease prevention amongst men. Prevention and management of common diseases also depends on early detection and treatment. We are also aware that unhealthy lifestyles such as smoking cigarettes and alcohol abuse are a lot more prevalent in men compared to women.”

Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights secretary Norman Matara said quantitative research is needed to establish why more men were dying than women.

Matara said women practice self-care while men are reckless.

“This is why most men died during the census period compared to women.”

Zimstats data also showed that 78 384 deaths constituting 64,7% were registered while unregistered deaths constituted 30,3% and 5,0% had an unknown status.

 

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‘Zim health sector in dire straits’

Credits: Newsday By Sharon Buwerimwe | Mar. 14, 2023

THE country’s health sector has been plunged into dire straits as poor remuneration and working conditions drives qualified health professionals into the diaspora where they are being employed as simple nurse aides, health experts have said.

The country has over the years recorded a mass exodus of skilled workers, who have opted for menial foreign jobs owing to poor remuneration back home.

Currently, the country has lost at least 3 000 nurses to the UK alone in the past two years.

Salary negotiations have yielded little and have resulted in perennial job action and deadlocks.

Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike told NewsDay that skilled health professionals are opting to do care work outside the country simply because government is failing to pay health workers decent wages.

 

 

“One of the major challenges facing Zimbabwe’s public health care system is brain drain. Doctors, nurses and pharmacists have left and continue to leave the country to destinations like the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. In fact, Zimbabwean health professionals are now found in nearly all countries, including non-traditional destinations such as Dubai,” Rusike said.

“It is very unfortunate that senior, highly-qualified and experienced health professionals are now opting to do a Red-Cross short course on care work so that they can quickly get the work visa permit for the UK and leave the country with their spouses and children with very little chances of coming back any time soon.

“The country has failed to stabilise the brain drain for a number of decades, and recently some clinics in the capital city have closed for lack of staff. Health care workers continue to be trained but fail to fill in the posts established in the 1980s, let alone the posts and establishment required to deal with the current population, disease epidemiology and health and development targets.”

Public Service International sub-regional secretary for Southern Africa Tichaona Fambisa said: “This is a serious problem because what this means is that poor countries like Zimbabwe are subsidising the health systems of developed countries. Health professionals are trained in the country and after that they leave to serve other countries. Government should make sure that they invest more in public service so that public sector workers and health workers can earn decent salaries and fail to find reasons to migrate.”

 

 

Efforts to get a comment from Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare minister Paul Mavima were fruitless. But speaking to NewsDay last week; Mavima said government was in the process of increasing salaries for health workers to slow down the exodus.

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‘Zim likely to miss SDG target for reducing matenal mortality’

File picture: Pregnant woman

MATERNAL and neonatal mortality remains a health concern in Zimbabwe, Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) has said.

CWGH director Itai Rusike  told NewsDay Weekender that the country remains off target towards meeting the 2030 United Nations (UN) goals to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality.

“Despite the high coverage of births by a skilled attendant and institutions delivery, maternal mortality remains high at 462/100 000 live births,” Rusike said.

“In addition, the high HIV rates among pregnant women at 14,3% increases the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Furthermore, neonatal mortality has remained stagnant for the past decade at 321/1 000 live births and under five mortality remains high at 65/1 000 live births.

“Likewise, besides being a priority, preventing the death of newborn babies remains a challenge and the country is off track to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target by 2030, that every country should have a neonatal mortality rate of 12 or fewer deaths per 1 000 live births.”

Maternal mortality in Zimbabwe is 363 per 100 000 live births, according to the preliminary results of the 2022 housing and population census.

According to Rusike, while this is an improvement from the 614/100 000 live births for maternal deaths recorded in 2014, the slow rate of improvement indicates that Zimbabwe is unlikely to meet the SDG target for reducing maternal mortality.

Complications during pregnancy and childbirth are leading causes of death and disability among women of reproductive age.

“Most of these deaths are caused by a handful of conditions, from which death is largely preventable.  Almost 95 % of our maternal and perinatal death cases are deemed to be avoidable,” Rusike said.

“This speaks to the issue of the quality of care at the point of care in our hospitals. This also highlights the importance of investigating the state of healthcare institutions with the view to devise probable interventions to improve quality of care.”

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Senate passes PVO Bill

The Private Voluntary Organisations (PVOs) Amendment Bill, which has been criticized by opposition parties and civic groups for muzzling government critics and narrowing democratic space, has gone a step closer to becoming law after sailing through the Senate. It now awaits Presidential accent to become law.Opposition legislators and human rights activists want the controversial Bill canned amid fears that if passed into law in its current state will further shrink the country’s democratic space and lead to closure of several NGOs perceived as anti-government.However, in supporting the Bill, Zanu PF legislators described the Bill as a necessary tool to whip ‘rogue’ NGOs and CSOs into line.

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Concerns over amendments to the Health Services Act.

Credit : Newsday

THERE are fears that the recently signed Health Service Amendment Act could trample on the rights of health workers.

Speaking to NewsDay, Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike  said the Act is neither democratic nor consultative.

He said workers in the public health sector  are now disadvantaged in several ways, since now they cannot strike and bargain collectively.

“It is unfortunate that health workers are caught in the middle of a system that is slow to respond to their needs and ethical pressures not to take collective job action,” Rusike said.

“The unpopular Health Services Act will most likely exacerbate the exodus of health workers from the country thereby putting extra pressure on those who will remain on their jobs.”

He urged government to address the conditions of service for health workers to plug the brain drain.

While there are no exact statistics on the number of health professionals who left the country in 2021, the Zimbabwe Nurses Association put the figure at just over 2000.

Last year, government announced plans to ban doctors and nurses from embarking on job action lasting more than three days under new proposed amendments to the Health Services Act.

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Fears over Health Service Act amendments

Credits: Newsday By Staff Reporter | Jan. 11, 2023

THERE are fears that the recently signed Health Service Amendment Act could trample on the rights of health workers.

Speaking to NewsDay, Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike  said the Act is neither democratic nor consultative.

 

 

He said public health sector workers are now disadvantaged in several ways because they have no right to strike and they cannot engage in collective bargaining.

“It is unfortunate that health workers are caught in the middle of a system that is slow to respond to their needs and ethical pressures not to take collective job action,” Rusike said.

“The unpopular Health Services Act will most likely exacerbate the exodus of health workers from the country thereby putting extra pressure on those who will remain on their jobs.”

 

 

He urged government to address the conditions of service for health workers to plug the brain drain.

While there are no exact statistics on the number of health professionals who left the country in 2021, the Zimbabwe Nurses Association put the figure at just over 2000.

Last year, government announced plans to ban doctors and nurses from embarking on job action lasting more than three days under new proposed amendments to the Health Services Act.

The Health Services Act was enacted in February 2005 to provide for the establishment of the Health Services Board (HSB) and the transfer of persons engaged in public health service delivery from the Public Service Commission to the HSB.

 

 

Under the Act,, worker representatives who face charges of inciting  nurses and doctors to unlawfully down tools could be jailed for three years in what authorities argue is necessary to ostensibly “instil discipline” in the health sector.

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Call for equitable health access

Credit Venessa Gonye : Zimbabwe Independent

HEALTH experts have called for equitable health access for marginalised groups such as rural people, women and children.

This comes as the world yesterday commemorated the International Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day, which falls on December 12 annually.

Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike said a country’s health system should work for everyone regardless of their financial status.

“Equitable health coverage puts women, children, adolescents, and the most vulnerable first because they face the most significant barriers to essential care. We all deserve a health system we know will be there for us throughout our lifespan. Trusted health systems provide high-quality services in primary care clinics and hospitals, equip and support frontline community health workers, and offer transparent health,” Rusike said.

He said Zimbabwe was affected by a decline in standards at the country’s major referral hospital, as well as the brain-drain in key personnel.

 

 

“UHC goes hand-in-hand with empowering communities to build healthy environments that promote holistic physical, mental and social well-being. Investing in #HealthForAll is the backbone of a prosperous society. Increasing public financing for health and reducing out-of-pocket health costs save lives, build resilience against pandemic threats, and advances Sustainable Development Goals beyond health.

World Health Organization (WHO) director AMR Global Co-ordination Haileyesus Getahun said challenges threatening a “healthy future for all” could not be addressed by the healthcare sector alone, but by a united and collaborative multi-sectoral response to ensure health security for everyone.

“The one health approach is an integrated, unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, animals, and ecosystems. It recognizes that the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants, and the wider environment (including ecosystems) are closely linked and interdependent,” Getahun said.

In August this year, WHO expressed concern over Zimbabwe’s slow pace in improving UHC, which is part of an initiative to ensure everyone has access to proper health services.

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2023 Health Budget insufficient

HEALTH experts yesterday said Finance minister Mthuli Ncube’s $473,8 billion budget allocation towards the provision of health care services was grossly inadequate to fund the sector’s critical needs.

Ncube announced a $4,5 trillion budget on Thursday with 11% going towards health. Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike said the health sector remains grossly underfunded.

“The health budget remains grossly inadequate to fund the critical needs in the health sector,” Rusike said.

“The current health financing model remains unsustainable as it heavily relies on external financing as well as out-of-pocket spending.”

“In spite of the huge external support from development partners, there is still a huge financing gap in the health sector in the country which calls for greater innovation and commitment by the government to sustainably address it.”

Dental Private Practitioners Association of Zimbabwe president Johannes Marisa said: “The health sector budget is an improvement from last year but of course when you are benchmarking with the Abuja Declaration you still realise that it falls short of the stipulated 15%.

“We hope the budget is going to address the mass brain drain that is underway in Zimbabwe where we are losing experienced and skilled workers to greener pastures.”

In April 2001, African Union countries met in Abuja and pledged to allocate at least 15% of their annual budgets to improve the health sector and urged donor countries to scale up support.

Years of underfunding of the country’s health sector was laid bare when COVID-19 hit the country as acute shortages of critical and lifesaving equipment such as ventilators and intensive care beds were exposed.

 

Some South African officials have accused Zimbabweans of straining that country’s health sector.

In his 2023 national budget, Ncube the allocation to health was meant to improve health provision.

 “In 2023, the budget has set aside 11% of total expenditures towards the health sector notwithstanding financial constraints, Government is committed to the provision of quality health services, as evidenced by the ongoing construction and rehabilitation of health facilities,” Ncube said.

 “In 2023, the budget has set aside 11% of total expenditures towards the health sector and the objective is to eventually meet the Abuja Declaration of 15%. This is necessary to attain Vision 2030 of becoming an upper middle-income economy.”

“In 2023, the sector is projected to receive US$212,9 million from the development partners towards the same areas.”

Ncube admitted that the health sector has been hard hit by mass exodus of health professionals.

“Government is, however, addressing this challenge through continuous review of both monetary and non-monetary incentives in order to attract and retain medical personnel.”