Zimbabwe News

Harare, 12 Nov. 2014 - The Eastern and Southern Africa Staff Association (ESASA) in Harare organized a lavish ceremony to welcome and congratulate Regional Director (RD) elect, Dr Matshidiso Moeti to Zimbabwe. Dr Moeti was nominated to be the next RD at the annual Regional Committee Meeting which took place in Cotonou, Benin, from 3-7 November 2014, and she is the first female RD in the region.  She is scheduled to take up her new post on 1 February 2015, succeeding Dr Luis Sambo, whose mandate ends on 31 January 2015 after having served as the RD for the past 10 years.

Victoria Falls: 01 Dec. 2014 - Zimbabwe’s resort town of Victoria Falls played host to the 2014 Continental World Aids Day commemorations, as Africa joined the rest of the world in commemorating the day. The commemoration, which was held under the theme ”Getting to Zero in Africa: Africa’s Responsibility, Everyone’s Responsibility” brought together people living with HIV; AIDS activists; partners; donors; and representatives from selected African Member States among others.

Key Highlights

• Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) for Zimbabwe has declined from 960 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2010 to 614 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2014.
• This is commendable progress, but the ratio still remains unacceptably high.
• Zimbabwe’s MDG target is to reduce MMR to 71 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2015.
• The media has a critical role to play in promoting social accountability on maternal health.

Salutations

• Your Excellency, the Right Honourable Prime Minister Dr Sibusiso B. Dlamini

• Honourable Minister of Health Make Sibongile Ndlela-Simelane

• Honourable Ministers present here

• Regional Administrator

• Members of Parliament from both Houses

• Your Excellency the American Ambassador

• The RC and Other Heads of UN Agencies

• Senior officials from Government Institutions

• Development Partners   

• Representatives of Non-Government Organisations

• Health Researchers

• Media houses

Vic. Falls, 16 Jan. 2015  Zimbabwe, which is the Chairperson for Ministers of Health in the SADC Region played host to the belated regional commemoration of SADC Malaria Day in Victoria Falls. The commemoration which brought together SADC Ministers of Health, Roll Back Malaria (RBM) partners, and the Victoria Falls community, was held under the theme “Strong partnerships sustain gains in malaria prevention and control”  and the slogan, “Combining efforts—key to success”.

Marondera, 2015  Zimbabwe has mounted an effective response to the HIV epidemic, and HIV prevalence has come down from 27% in 1997 to 15%  to date. In addition to the prevention and treatment interventions that have been deployed, voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC)  is a high impact intervention that has been adopted, which has the potential to to drive further dramatic declines in the trajectory of HIV in Zimbabwe.

Mazowe, 13 May 2015: The call was made during the belated commemoration of World Health Day which was held at Mazowe Prison Farm. Zimbabwe  commemorated a belated World Health Day under the theme Food Safety- from farm to plate, make food safe. The theme highlights the urgent need for governments; organizations; food producers; food businesses and consumers to put measures in place that will improve food safety from the point of production to consumption.

Mhangura, 12 June 2015 The commitment was made during the belated commemoration of World TB Day which was held at Mhangura Primary School.  Globally, World TB Day is commemorated on the 24th of March each year, but Zimbabwe held a belated commemoration on 12 June under the theme; Reach the three million: Reach, Treat, Cure Everyone.

Harare, 15 July 2015 - The meeting, which brought together NTD Program Managers and Data Managers from  Comoros, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zanzibar, Zimbabwe, The Gambia, Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone was officially opened by the WHO Representative/IST ESA Coordinator a.i. Dr David Okello in Harare this morning.

Harare, 7 August 2015 :  This was said during the official launch of World Breastfeeding Week which was held at the Lafarge cement plant in Harare. Lafarge is a cement producing company which has strong policies about mothers continuing breastfeeding while at work;  a state of the art lactation room where mothers can take a break from work to breastfeed their babies or to express and store breastmilk; and a  day care center for babies and children from one year old where mothers can leave their babies and go and breastfeed  them during their breaks.