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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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CWGH strengthens accountability for COVID-19 and equitable access to vaccines in Zimbabwe

The Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) has embarked on a project to strengthen
accountability for COVID-19 resources and equitable access to vaccines as the country battles
with the pandemic that has claimed millions of lives across the globe.
The two-year project, Accountable and Transparent COVID-19 Finances and Equitable Access to
Vaccines in Zimbabwe, is meant to stimulate dialogue through advocacy to policy makers,
decision-makers in health and social services and the media to improve accountability for COVID19 and equitable access to vaccines in the country.
Funded by the Nigerian-based Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN), the project emphasizes on
improving health literacy, health financing and financial literacy to enhance appreciation across
all levels that a stronger and more resilient health system is better placed to respond to COVID19 pandemic challenges while ensuring continuity of operations to address other health needs of
the population.
Key issues affecting access to vaccines by communities will be raised and thus generating
evidence on bottlenecks and increase national dialogue with the view to influence policy
implementation for better access to vaccines. The evidence will be used to argue for improved
domestic funding for health in order to reduce health system fragility to better address the
current public health treats while adequately handling the disease burden.
The initiative is tailored to promote community-driven compliance and adherence to
recommended public health and social measures of COVID-19 while holding government
accountable for sustainable response to the pandemic. This involves monitoring disbursements
made to the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MOHCC) ensuring that the allocated resources are
used to respond to COVID-19 and assessing measures put in place to ensure continuity of other
health services mid-pandemic.
The media will be capacitated to play a key role in the implementation of this strategy to inform
the decision makers and communities and advance the desired changes.
Zimbabwe has to date 264,127 confirmed cases, 5672 deaths and a total of 13,491,312 vaccine
doses have been administered. The government has been a major funder of the response to
Covid-19 committing at least USD$100 million for vaccine procurement. However, donors and
partners including the World Health Organization, the World Bank, UNICEF and governments
such as China, the United Kingdom have also contributed significant amounts.
However, the government has failed to convincingly account for use of funds received in
responding to COVID-19. This is the part of the wider health/financial literacy deficiencies that
require urgent addressing if the response is to benefit the intended beneficiaries.
Civil society has been on forefront demanding accountability through the various platforms that
have been made available since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
The Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) is a network of national membership based civil
society and community based organization who aim to collectively enhance community participation in
health in Zimbabwe.

For further information, please contact:
______________________
Itai Rusike (Mr)
Executive Director
Community Working Group on Health (CWGH)
4 O’connor Crescent, Cranborne
Harare, Zimbabwe
Mobile: +263 77236 3991 / 0719363991
Tel: +263-242-573285|573286
Email: itai@cwgh.co.zw
Website: www.cwgh.co.zw
“Health is Your Right and Responsibility”

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CWGH Workers day press statement

May1, 2023

CWGH Workers’ Day Statement: Government must reward health workers.

As the World celebrates the Workers’ Day today, the Community Working Group on

Health (CWGH) calls upon the government to remunerate the health workers well and

improve their working conditions to curb the current brain drain that has quickened the

collapse of the sector. Let us also make sure that health workers are provided with all

the necessary tools of the trade, health institutions are well equipped with the essential

medicines and modern medical equipment.

One of the major challenges facing the Zimbabwean’s public health care system is brain

drain. Doctors, nurses and pharmacists have left and continue to leave the country to

destinations like South Africa, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia to name just

a few. In fact, Zimbabwean health professionals are found in nearly all countries,

including non-traditional destinations such as Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Spain.

The country has failed to stabilize the brain drain, and some health facilities are

operating with skeletal staff due to lack of staff thereby overwhelming the few health

workers that have remained resulting in staff burnout and low staff morale. Health care

workers (HCWs) continue to be trained but fail to fill 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. They have continued to

enrich other establishments and countries while the gap they leave in the country’s

institutions continues to glare. The current economic downturn characterized by the high

cost of food prices as well as spiraling inflation has unfortunately worsened the

situation.

As we celebrate May 1, we must remember that many workers are being injured or

dying in avoidable work-related incidents. The CWGH expresses its solidarity with all

workers in formal, informal, rural, urban and domestic employment in Zimbabwe.

_____________________

Itai Rusike (Mr)

Executive Director

Community Working Group on Health

  1. (CWGH)