Zimbabwe News

Harare, 4 Mar 2014 -- The Government Counselor for External Relations of the Principality of Monaco, M. José Badia and his delegation together with WHO and Ministry of Health and Child Care officials, undertook field visits to Mashonaland West province which has some of the malaria high burden districts. During the first leg of the field visit, the team visited Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital, where the key finding was a drastic reduction in the malaria case load.

Masvingo: 16 March 2014. The National Rapid Response Team (NRRT) conducted a third monitoring and support visit of the Chingwizi relocation camp which houses Tokwe-Mukorsi Dam flood victims. The visit was made at the recommendation of the Inter Agency Coordination Committee on Health (IACCH), with financial and technical support from the Zimbabwe WCO .

Chitungwiza: 27 March 2014 - Zimbabwe held a belated World TB Day Commemoration under the theme “Reach the 3 million” and the slogan “Find. Treat. Cure TB”. The belated commemoration was held at Chitungwiza Town Centre in the dormitory town of Chitungwiza, about 30km from Harare. Mem- bers of the public from the town, partners and government officials were part of the well-attended commemoration.

Nyamapanda: 16 April 2014. Zimbabwe welcomed the Racing Against Malaria 2 (RAM2) convoy at Nyamapanda border post which borders Zimbabwe with Mozambique. RAM is a regional advocacy campaign aimed at raising malaria awareness in communities in malaria endemic SADC countries. This year’s RAM started in Malawi on the 14th of April 2014 and is running under the theme “A malaria free SADC: Moving towards malaria elimination by 2020”. The RAM convoy will drive through Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana reaching Angola on the 25th of April.

Shamva, Zimbabwe: 06 June 2014 - The World Health Organization Country Office in Zimbabwe joined the Ministry of Health and Child Care during the belated 2014 World Health Day commemoration. Over 400 people including community members and school children from Shamva district, traditional and political leaders, health workers at Primary health care, district, provincial and national levels, other government officials and the media participated.

Harare Zimbabwe, 7 June 2014: Members of the WHO East and Southern Africa Staff Association (ESASA) in Harare donated to the needy as a way of giving back to the community. Donations of clothes, blankets, shoes, and winter wear were made to Bumhudzo Old People’s Home in Chitungwiza and Chinyaradzo Children’s Home in Highfield.

Harare, Zimbabwe: 11 June 2014 - WHO Representative for Zimbabwe, Dr David Okello met with representatives from the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) to discuss an upcoming water, sanitation, health and energy (WASHen) exhibition that is being planned for September 2014. Ms Stella Nkomo and Ms Nozipho Maphala from the Marketing and Public Relations unit of the ZITF met with Dr Okello in his Harare office to discuss the upcoming exhibition.

Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe: 14 June 2014 - Zimbabweans were called upon to provide safe blood to save mothers as Zimbabwe joined the rest of the world to commemorate World Blood Donor Day at a high level event in Chinhoyi which was supported by the First Lady of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Amai Grace Mugabe and representatives from the different levels of the Government of Zimbabwe.

Harare Zimbabwe, 3 July 2014: WR Zimbabwe, Dr David Okello handed back some Parirenyatwa Annex Offices to Parirenyatwa Hospital. The offices on the ground floor of the Annex building were now vacant since the move of the Zimbabwe Country Office and IST/ESA to the Highlands complex.

Harare, 19 August 2014 : WHO supported the Ministry of Health and Child Care to launch the nationwide introduction of the rotavirus vaccine in Zimbabwe amid disturbing statistics of rotavirus diarrhea mortality among children below the age of 5.  Rotavirus diarrhea mostly affects children below the age of 5 and also accounts for 66% hospitalization of children in the above age group. According to WHO 2004 estimates, 527 000 children aged <5 years die each year from vaccine-preventable rotavirus infections; most of these children live in low-income countries.