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Village health workers earn $14

June 24, 2017 in News

Village health workers across the country’s provinces earn a paltry $14 each month, given to them on a quarterly basis by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other development partners, it has been revealed.
By Vanessa Gonye
The workers move around communities educating people on preventing and treating common ailments related to HIV, typhoid and tuberculosis among others.
Speaking at the Community Working Group on Health annual national meeting in Harare on Thursday, Binga North Member of Parliament, Prince Sibanda, who is also a member of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health, expressed concern at the meagre earnings being given to over 2 000 village health workers (VHWs) across the country.
“The burden they are carrying is too much compared to the remuneration they are getting,” he said.
Sibanda bemoaned the fact that the VHWs were doing more than what was initially set for them whereby each person would work in a single village, but now each of them was obliged to work in around five villages in near-round-clock routine.
He urged government to prioritise health services and cut on unnecessary expenditures.
“We made a recommendation that at least they should be given $200 per month, in addition to what our development partners are bringing in so that we encourage them to continue doing their work,” Sibanda said.
A VHW from Goromonzi acknowledged that they were indeed earning $14 per month for the services they were offering in their villages.
“We get $14 per month which comes on a quarterly basis from UNDP though it is not guaranteed as it may never be availed, some haven’t received anything from 2004,” Isabel Mombe from Chikwaka said.
“We really don’t know who is responsible for paying us though we hear it’s UNDP, it is not really clear and we don’t know who to ask when we do not receive our money.”
According to ZimStat, in 2014 the total consumption poverty datum line for one person was $102, which places village health workers way beneath that margin.

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Improving emergency care vital

Improving emergency care vital

I. Rusike, E. Sharara, C. Chimhete and T. Munouya
In front of us in one of our rural districts is a road accident with injured passengers including children.They are distressed – the local public hospital has no ambulance and they are trying to find enough money to assure the private ambulance service that they will be able to pay the fee before they will send the ambulance.
The fee is more than they can afford, but if they don’t find someone to pay and get people to care quickly the injured people could have complications or suffer avoidable deaths.
This is not the only problem people who have emergencies face. Ambulances can take long to respond. Many ambulances do not have basic equipment or adequately trained staff to take care of patients during transit, also complicating their recovery or risking fatalities in transit.
Emergency departments are under resourced, without adequate equipment and staff to cope with the critically ill patients coming to them, including patients who have delayed seeking care until they have an acute emergency.
In some countries in our region, a critical shortage of doctors and other skilled health workers has affected the quality of the response to emergencies. Yet in others, like South Africa and Uganda, ambulances are better equipped and staffed, and people arriving at emergency facilities find doctors and nurses on stand-by and ready to receive patients and give them prompt care.
This situation is compounded by conditions that increase the risk of traumatic injury. For example, the state of our roads in Zimbabwe raises concern, especially when they are further damaged by heavy rains and other climate disasters.
Poor roads not only raise the risk of accidents, but also mean that ambulances cannot easily access patients in need. During the rainy season, rural roads become impassable, making access for emergency services even more difficult.
While communities assist with emergencies where they can, local transport operators sometimes take advantage of poor conditions to overcharge desperate patients in need of acute care, including pregnant women, carers of sick children and elderly people.
In the absence of adequate investment in roads and services, poor people pay the price. Allocating funds to improve road systems will prevent accidents and also make it easier for ambulances to reach emergencies.
Yet in 2017, of the $15 million that the Harare City Council said it needed to improve the road network, it received only US$1,2 million from the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara).
The situation may be worse when air rescue emergency services are needed, as a key component of an effective emergency care system. Air rescue emergency services are more scarce healthcare resource, and as in Zimbabwe, the only public service for this may be the Air Force.
There are private services for those who can afford the costs of private insurance or providers, but these are unaffordable for the majority, and thus only used by a minority of people.
In the common discussions on universal health coverage and emergency responses, it is important that we at minimum ensure availability, accessibility and affordability of effective and good quality emergency medical services for everyone in the public.
Good quality emergency medical services provide an immediate response to a variety of illnesses and injuries and the treatment and transportation of people in health situations that may be life threatening.
They should provide universal quality care to all those who need it at the time they need it to save their lives, prevent suffering or disability. Although the current situation varies from country to country in the region, for many this is not yet delivered.
The situation contradicts the fact that in Zimbabwe, as for seven other countries of the region, according to EQUINET policy brief 27, the constitution guarantees citizens the right to health care, including emergency medical services. Section 76 (3) of Zimbabwe’s Constitution states this as, “No person may be refused emergency medical treatment in any health care institution.”
Of course no service would refuse care, but a situation of inadequate investment in affordable, accessible and good quality emergency services, including ambulances can be understood to be a form of denial, or refusal.
The Zimbabwe Constitution makes this clear in stating that the state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within the limits of the resources available to it, to achieve the progressive realisation of this right.
While public emergency services offered by state-owned health institutions, the Air Force, the police and Fire Brigade are weak and poorly resourced, people’s rights are violated and they are exposed to high payments for private services, or worse still disability or death.
It is evident that this is a core duty of the state and must be adequately funded. When public emergency care services are not adequately funded, staffed or provided, it leads to a growth of commercial and privatised services.
While this is a private sector response to demand, and can help to minimise morbidity and mortality if of good quality and properly regulated and monitored, it is not appropriate to rely on the private sector for this service, and leads to inequities in access to care. The driving force of private provision is maximising profits and not the needs of the most disadvantaged members of society.
A trend towards privatisation of emergency medical services thus has highest burdens for the poorest, adding to the stresses in often tough economic environments of accessing services and meeting medical bills.
A 2016 study by the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development on a public-private partnership in one major central hospital in Zimbabwe found that residents faced challenges in realising their right to health care, due to the high cost of services, unfair treatment of those who cannot pay, “ . . . deepening inequality between the haves and have-nots” and report of corruption in the demand by staff for differing levels of cash payments.
They attributed this violation of rights to health care to the “private vendor profit motive” and diminished public control.
Beyond improving public funding of emergency care services, we can
also take advantage of technology advances. For example, health facilities have used mobile phones to alert ambulance services and to support those attending to patients while waiting for an ambulance or medical personnel, improving the possibility of improved outcomes for patients.
A “Dial-a-Doc” initiative by one mobile operator in Zimbabwe works with enlisted services of medical practitioners at a call centre to respond to phone-in requests for information and help from the public. A similar service is available in South Africa, Zambia and Malawi. At the same time, we cannot keep relying on the health services to manage growing risks in the environments we live and work in.
Death and disability from traumatic injuries from road traffic accidents on poor roads, from climate disasters and other accidents, and acute health crises in pregnancy, for children and others, and due to unsafe working conditions are largely preventable and should not be filling our health services.
We need to have a commitment from all sectors that play a role to identify and reduce their role in traumatic injury and illness.
As economies improve they should show marked reductions in such trauma, but even under challenging economic conditions, adequate, affordable and accessible public emergency care

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Chronicle scribe scoops health reporter award

Chronicle reporter Thandeka Moyo (left) receives a certificate and a trophy from Mr Douglas Moyo, the Bulawayo National Aids Council officer (right), while Mr Nobert Dube of the Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) looks on during the CWGH Health reporting journalists awards at a Bulawayo hotel on Friday. Thandeka won the best CWGH health reporter award

Cynthia Dube, Chronicle Reporter
THE Chronicle’s award winning journalist Thandeka Moyo last Friday scooped the 2017 Maternal, Child and Sexual Reproductive Health Rights Award.
Moyo, The Chronicle’s health reporter was named the winner of the inaugural award courtesy of the Community Working Group on Health (CWGH).
She was awarded for a series of stories on maternal health she produced, including a story about a woman who died while giving birth at Mpilo Central Hospital due to negligence.
For her ninth journalism award, Moyo walked away with a certificate, a trophy and cash.
Freelance reporter Jermaine Ndlovu was the first runner-up.
Anastasia Ndlovu and Pamenus Tuso, also freelance reporters were second runner-ups. Addressing guests who attended the presentation ceremony in Bulawayo, CWGH board member Mr Norbert Dube urged journalists to continue reporting on health issues affecting Zimbabweans in order to force authorities to act.
“We value and appreciate your leading role in promoting quality health coverage in Zimbabwe.
“I would like to urge you to continue informing, educating and raising awareness on various issues affecting communities in the country such as bilharzia, intestinal worms, elephantiasis, leprosy and blinding trachoma and other common diseases,” said Mr Dube.
He said media houses should engage health organisations to improve their health reportage.
Veteran journalist who was one of the adjudicators Tapfuma Machakaire said accuracy, truthfulness, fairness and balance had earned the winners the awards.
“We were also looking at the originality of the story and multi-sourcing which is very important if the story is to be informative,” said Machakaire.
He said the judges also assessed the story’s impact on society.
CWGH director Mr Itai Rusike said he was happy that unlike in the olden days, health issues were making it as news.
“It will take efforts by the Government, the private sector and the media to ensure our health sector is revived.
“We also want to appreciate media houses represented here for their effort in spreading health messages,” said Mr Rusike.

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Media Awards Invitation

The Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) invites journalists to submit fresh stories on public health,maternal, child and sexual reproductive health rights for publication in an on-line magazine that will be published at the end of May 2017.
As discussed in earlier meetings, each journalist is invited to submit one well-researched, balanced and well written story on health issues to do with public health, maternal, child and sexual reproductive health rights in Zimbabwe. The stories must be between 500 and 800 words. Pictures must accompany the stories.
A small stipend will be paid for stories that will have been published.
The articles must be submitted to: nonjie@cwgh.co.zw and caiphas@cwgh.co.zw not later than 18 May 2017.

The Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) invites entries from journalists in Matabeleland and Midlands regions for the maiden Maternal, Child and Sexual Reproductive Health Rights Media Awards to be held in Bulawayo on the 26 th of May 2017.
Each journalist is supposed to submit at least three articles published or broadcasted between 1 January 2015 and 30 April 2017 on issues to do with Public Health, Maternal, Child and Sexual Reproductive Health Rights in Zimbabwe. The awards, which will be held under the theme “Professional Health Reporting for Positive Change”, will be adjudicated by a team of renowned professional journalists.
The three article limit can only be waived if the articles are part of a series of stories in a campaign or investigation.
The articles must be submitted to: nonjie@cwgh.co.zw and caiphas@cwgh.co.zw not later than 17 May 2017.

For electronic media, journalists are required to present three articles on DVD format at

11 Coghlan Road,Khumalo, Bulawayo or 312 Samora Machel Avenue, Eastlea in Harare.

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Council must do more to contain typhoid: Experts

Failure by Harare City Council to provide basic water and sanitation services to its residents is fuelling the outbreak of water borne diseases such as typhoid and cholera, health experts have said. Water-borne diseases, the experts said, were primitive in this era. As such, the specialists called for the city to venture into private partnerships with developmental partners in order to resuscitate infrastructure which is failing to cope with the growing population.
The sentiments by the experts come after the death toll from typhoid in Harare has since risen to three from December last year.
The deaths have been recorded in Hatcliffe (1) and Mbare (2), while hundreds have been treated.
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on health member Dr Paul Chimedza said the prevention and control of water-borne diseases depends entirely on the provision of clean water and best sanitation practices.
Dr Chimedza, who is former Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care, said the conditions in Harare were breeding ground for the bacteria as most areas do not have water.
He said even if medical personnel intervened, the outbreaks would be difficult to control.
Community Working Group on Health executive director Mr Itai Rusike said the solution rests on the city in not only consistently supplying clean water, but must be coupled with regular refuse collection, and ensuring that burst pipes are fixed and replaced.
“Typhoid is a primitive disease, which council should not struggle to contain. In Harare, we are not supposed to have alternative sources of water such as boreholes and unprotected wells, but if the need arises, the city should make sure that all the alternative sources are chlorinated,” he said.
Zimbabwe College of Public Health Physicians Dr Vonai Chimhamhiwa echoed similar sentiments saying: “The city’s water supply is highly susceptible to contamination because of the old pipe system that is still in use, hence any pipes that burst, get contaminated and the risk of transmission is very high.”
Ultramed Health medical Aid Society chief executive officer Dr Sydney Mukonoweshuro called for the revival of the city’s infrastructure and spirited campaigns that will educate residents to follow strict hygiene practices.
“The water-borne disease outbreaks must be understood from the acute migration that happened to Harare. The city that had an infrastructure to handle one million people woke up accommodating millions of people. The authorities have tried their best, but it is a problem that will require huge capital investment to expand and resuscitate infrastructure,” he said.
Harare City Council Health Services director Dr Prosper Chonzi said he was in agreement with the health experts that the permanent solution for the outbreaks will be to address all the environmental issues. He said instead of him battling chronic ailments such as HIV and Aids, tuberculosis and others, he was being left to react to diseases, which could be eliminated through the provision of water and sanitation.
On Hatcliffe, Dr Chonzi said the situation had improved as only three people had presented themselves with similar symptoms of typhoid.

Harare Water director Engineer Hosiah Chisango said council had been facing technical challenges in its bid to improve water supplies.
Harare needs at least 1 200 mega-litres to enable every household to have water everyday.
The city’s water department has been failing to cope with water demand over the years, mainly because the original infrastructure was designed to serve a population of 300 000.
The city’s population has since increased to almost 2,5 million without a corresponding expansion of water infrastructure.

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Outcry over typhoid deaths

Outcry over typhoid deaths

HARARE - Zimbabwean doctors yesterday called on the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) to ensure government accounts for every death as a result of archaic diseases amid unprecedented public outrage over typhoid deaths.
Zimbabwe’s government was facing scrutiny from the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) after noting the continued deplorable state of service delivery in Zimbabwe’s cities, towns and Harare in particular, saying the local authorities’ suburbs have become the epitome of failure to prioritise a safe and clean environment as a key tenet of a strong primary healthcare system.
“...we call upon the ZHRC to institute an investigation into the continued outbreaks of these archaic diseases which are preventable and proffer recommendations to both the councils and the government,” ZADHR secretary Evans Masitara told an interface meeting yesterday with the State-run ZHRC, represented by its chairperson, commissioner Elasto Mugwadi.
“We believe these continued outbreaks are a health rights violation and smack of negligence and incompetency on the part of the duty bearers.”
This comes as two children are reported to have lost their lives with total suspected cases of 604, and the outbreak spreading beyond Mbare — the disease’s epicentre — to adjacent suburbs such as Budiriro and Glen View, where many have been sickened by contaminated water and food.
“Residents are daily subjected to unsafe drinking water, burst sewer pipes and uncollected garbage.
“These conditions are conducive for the outbreak of communicable diseases and not only typhoid,” Masitara said.
Another risk is cholera, a bacterial disease that tends to break out amid intense rains in parts of Harare.
“As we all recall, Zimbabwe was attacked by a cholera outbreak in 2008 which saw deaths and over 99 000 reported cases,” Masitara said.
A cholera outbreak that started in August 2008 killed over 4 000 people and left nearly 100 000 ill. The epidemic was officially declared over in July 2009.
2010/11 also had sporadic outbreaks of typhoid in Harare.
“The conditions that favour the outbreaks are the same and this calls us to ask, have we seen nothing and have we heard nothing?” Masitara said.
Typhoid — a bacterial disease spread through poor food hygiene and contaminated water — occasionally breaks out in Zimbabwe’s poorer townships, where water supplies are still basic more than three decades after independence.
Untreated, the disease can lead to complications in the gut and head which can kill up to one in five patients.
Masitara told the ZHRC that NGOs — under the Civil Society Health Emergency Response Coordinating Committee (CSHERCC) — had called for the setup of a commission of inquiry that looks into curbing preventable diseases.
Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) executive director, Itai Rusike, said that as long as the water crisis in Harare was not addressed, residents will continue to be exposed to diseases such as cholera and typhoid.
“The causes of the 2008 outbreak have not been addressed and the main reason for the typhoid outbreak is the unavailability of water. People are resorting to alternative sources of water which are not safe,” Rusike said.
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) chief executive, Mfundo Mlilo, blamed erratic water supplies and poor waste management for the typhoid outbreak.
“..we are concerned about this and one of our resolutions is to engage State actors so that we find a lasting solution.”
“We believe the ZHRC has a role to play in holding the Harare City Council as well as other local authorities to account,” Mlilo said.

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Tragedy feared as senior doctors join strike

Tragedy feared as senior doctors join strike

SENIOR doctors and specialists yesterday joined striking junior doctors, further paralysing services at government hospitals mostly in Harare and Bulawayo.

Public hospitals’ outpatients departments were a sorry sight, as patients were left stranded following the industrial action by doctors.
The situation at the country’s major referral hospitals in Harare and Bulawayo has taken a frightening turn, with obstetrician and gynaecologist registrars also downing tools.
This potentially puts the lives of expecting mothers, especially those requiring surgery, and their unborn babies at risk.
In a statement, the registrars, who are specialist trainees in obstetrics and gynaecology, said they no longer felt it was safe for the patients if they continued in the absence of senior resident medical officers.
“We tried to continue working, but the demands are so exhausting, such that we fear we may end up making fatal errors resulting in unwanted maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality,” the registrars said.
A2 paediatrics casualty at Parirenyatwa Hospital, which deals with children, was also shut down.
In a notice, one I Ticklay, the acting head of department paediatrics, to Noah Madziva, the clinical director, said the section had been closed in “line with contingency plans”.
“All paediatric patients will be seen and managed in main causality,” the circular read.
A tour of Parirenyatwa Hospital by the NewsDay Weekender crew yesterday revealed the shocking situation, which is most likely going to cost some lives.
Hospital emergency rooms were staffed largely by nurses and interns and waiting rooms packed with patients, many on stretchers.
Hordes of patients sat in the outpatients department in long, winding queues. The serious ones lay on stretchers, with no one to attend to them except for their relatives, who were frantically trying to get them help.
With dejected faces, the patients sat on the wooden benches unsure of when they would get to see a doctor.
“We have been here since 10 in the morning, but it is almost 2pm and we have not been attended to,” one sickly looking man, who was coughing badly, said.
A young man in his early 20s and on a stretcher, struggled to sit up maybe to get some attention, but no one came.
The pain on his face was quite evident and his swollen feet stretched out before him looked horrendous.
“We hear they are on strike or go-slow. We are not sure. All we know is there is no doctor to help us and many of us will go home unattended,” a distraught woman who was struggling to breathe, said.
The stuffy room was filled to capacity as both patients and concerned relatives milled around waiting for absolution that never came.
The situation remained dire, as many patients failed to be attended to, as most hospitals were operating with skeleton staff.
Striking doctors are deadlocked with the government over long-standing grievances which include an announcement by government that it would no longer employ them upon completion of their two-year internship, a situation that would render them jobless.
The doctors are also pressing for the government to raise their on-call allowances and want it to provide them with a duty-free motor vehicle import scheme, among other issues.
The Health ministry frantically tried to avert the disaster by offering to create 250 new posts, but the doctors scoffed at the offer, which has no time frame.
On Wednesday, as a last-ditch attempt the Health ministry sent out a desperate plea to the doctors urging them to return to work.
Hospital officials also tried to rattle the doctors into coming to work by circulating a threatening statement.
However, the doctors would have none of it and carried on with the strike.
“We have noted with utter disappointment the new tactics by various clinical directors at central hospitals, that instead of engaging doctors and try to find solutions to our current demands, they have reverted to threats and victimisation,” Edgar Munatsi, Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors’ Association president said.
Meanwhile, health stakeholders have rallied behind the doctors urging the ministry to urgently address their concerns.
The Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) said the current situation could result in prolonged human suffering and avoidable deaths.
“As CWGH, we strongly believe that the current labour dispute could have been resolved amicably if the government had honoured the promises it made to the medical practitioners last year,” Itai Rusike, CWGH’s director, said.
“It is surprising that the ministry of Health Child Care has now offered to open up 250 new posts, for junior doctors and 2 000 for nurses when it has not fulfilled last year’s promises to the same doctors.”
Meanwhile, the doctors have vowed to press on with the strike until all their concerns have been dealt with in their entirety.”

BY PHYLLIS MBANJE February 18, 2017
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Health levy introduction welcome

Charity Ruzvidzo —
The move by Minister of Finance and Economic Development Patrick Chinamasa to introduce a health levy will go a long way in improving the country’s health sector, experts say.
The health sector, which is largely dependent on donor funding, is set to benefit immensely from this domestic funding initiative. Presenting the 2017 National budget, Minister Chinamasa said it was critical that all economically active individuals contribute towards funding health services.
“It is, thus, proposed to introduce a health fund levy of 5 cents for every dollar of airtime and mobile data, under the theme, ‘Talk-Surf and Save a Life,’” said Chinamasa.
He said this will take effect from January 1, 2017. The Minister of Health and Child Care Dr David Parirenyatwa said the levy would equip the health sector with necessary resources to ease access of services for the public.
“The levy will benefit our health sector. It will be used to purchase drugs and medicine. This will assist in increasing the accessibility drugs of in our hospitals,” he said.
Dr Parirenyatwa said Minister Chinamasa was yet to prescribe how the funds are to be managed.
“The money is going to be ring fenced for health facilities only. This means it will be used to improve our health sector. It is not going to be diverted elsewhere. We are yet to hear from the Minister how the funds will be managed and distributed,” he said.
The minister said the health levy did not entail free medication for all Zimbabweans.
“Groups of people that are supposed to get free medication will still get free medication. The health levy will enable easy access of drugs and purchase of equipment in our health sector. Those that can afford to pay for medication must pay,” he said.
The health fund levy, he further said, was the correct way to go in terms of ensuring an improvement in the health sector.
Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) executive director Itai Rusike also welcomed the introduction of the levy.
“The health levy is a welcome innovative domestic health financing strategy for our public health delivery services,” he said.
“The Government must be applauded for introducing the 5 percent tax on airtime and mobile data to finance the purchase of drugs and equipment.”
The health lobby activist said this was the only way Government could ensure sustainability of current programmes in the event that external partners pull out or reduce their funding commitments to Zimbabwe.
He said the current situation where external partners fund more than 90 percent of the country’s drug requirements was unsustainable.
Rusike urged the Government to ensure transparency in the use of funds collected under the health levy.
“A strong management and accountability of funds is needed so that they are strictly used for the intended purpose. The success of the fund will also see a strong advocacy for other options for domestic funding of the health ministry to be explored further,” he said.
The health lobbyist said more strategies to raise funds needed to be explored to improve the health sector.
“There must be a further increase on cigarettes and alcohol duties or taxes,” he said.
“Adding a new earmarked tax on products with high sugar content, genetically modified foods, earmarking a certain percentage for third party insurance to fund hospital emergencies will also assist.”
Extending tax concessions for private sector contributions to the health system, Rusike said, would also help including making tax concessions to medical aid societies that have invested in areas outside their core business.
Health and Child Care Parliamentary Portfolio committee chairperson Dr Ruth Labode said the introduction of the health levy would assist in curbing the brain drain in the health sector.
“I personally advocated for the implementation of the health levy. It will help our crippled health sector. You find that we have doctors moving to other countries due to working conditions that are not conducive. The health levy will enable us to stop this,” she said.
The legislator said the health levy was likely to raise an estimated $80 million per year.
“We estimate that $80 million will be raised per year from the health levy, that is depending on how many people buy airtime.
“This should surely bring change and development to our health sector,” she said.
Dr Labode urged the Ministry of Health and Child Care to create an autonomous body to handle the funds under the health levy.
This, she said, would ensure the levy was used for its intended purposes. Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) board member Dr Evans Masitara said they supported any move to improve the ailing health sector.
“We appreciate Government’s initiative to introduce a health levy. However, the Minister of Finance should have increased the 2017 budget allocation for the health sector,” he said.
Dr Masitara reiterated the need for transparency if the health levy was to be a success in boosting the health sector.
“The Ministry of Health must put in place mechanisms that ensure funds are not abused. A panel must be set up to monitor the use of the funds. We need to see improvement, the health sector must change for the better,” he said.
Most people cannot afford to purchase drugs due to the financial constraints. In more developed countries like the United States, the health levy has contributed to healthcare access.
This goes towards assisting the poor and vulnerable groups who cannot afford to pay for health care facilities. — Zimpapers Syndication.

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Harare water quality frightens residents

Harare water quality frightens residents

HARARE - While attention has been turned towards the spreading waterborne diseases, residents in Harare are now raising concerns over the quality of water being supplied by the Harare City Council (HCC).
While health services director Prosper Chonzi claims the city’s water is safe to drink, its appearance seems to suggest otherwise.
The water being pumped by council has a cloudy and sometimes yellowish brown colour, with algae-like residue accumulating at the bottom of containers after it has been rested.
At times the water is completely muddy and cannot be consumed by residents for obvious reasons.
“Harare tap water is very safe to drink because it meets all the World Health Organisation standards. The only issue may be that it does not meet the smell and sight sense standards but it is very safe,” Chonzi said.
Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike said environmental conditions are some of the underlying problems that Harare faces.
Rusike added that perennial water shortages plus limited water chemicals mean Harare households are vulnerable to unhealthy environments.
He said because of the unreliable and prolonged water cuts residents are vulnerable to unsafe alternatives.
“The situation on the ground indicates that while infrastructures are present, they are old, poorly functioning and poor availability of safe water leads to sourcing of water from less protected, informal sources. Advice to boil water is difficult to follow during water and power cuts,” he said.
The CWGH director added that women are more susceptible to contracting diseases from unsafe water due to their gendered roles.
In 2015, heavy metals such as lead, mercury, toxic levels of iron and phosphates were traced in the waste water that eventually flows to Morton Jaffray Waterworks for purification.
HCC waste water manager Simon Muserere said chemicals such as phosphates in the water are commonly caused by soaps and detergents used daily.
He said if a phosphate ban is implemented, the city can reduce the quantity that is discharged into the water.
“If that ban is not there, countries like South Africa which have these bans can just dump their high phosphate products in Zimbabwe.
“So when we bath, do our laundry and go about other cleaning activities, those phosphates end up at the treatment plant,” he said.
According to WHO, lead in the body is distributed to the brain, liver, kidney and bones.
WHO advises that no levels of lead exposure are considered safe, however, poisoning by the metal is preventable.
It is stored in the teeth and bones where it accumulates over time. Human exposure is usually assessed through the measurement of lead in blood.
Mercury poisoning disrupts any tissue it comes in contact with and can cause shock, cardiovascular collapse, acute renal failure and severe gastrointestinal damage.
In order to curb cases of water pollution and illegal trade effluent, HCC has drafted the Water Pollution and Trade Effluent Control by-law which regulates water pollution and effluent discharge into the environment.
The by-law has come at a time when the city is battling a lot of environmental, health and food security challenges due to pollution and effluent discharge.
According to the acting chamber secretary Charles Kandemiiri the by-law would make it a condition for all persons involved in the production or manufacture of goods resulting in effluent discharge to install pre-treatment facilities at their premises.
He said it was about time that council took a robust stance in the regulation to avoid water pollution in Harare.
“This will ensure that trade effluent is treated before discharge into the municipal sewer. It will also prohibit the discharge of trade effluent at undesignated points.
“The by-law also ensures that trade effluent and hazardous substances dumped into the sewer system should comply with council’s chemical standards,” he said.

Helen Kadirire  •  16 January 2017