Published by the government of Zimbabwe
1 December 2008
Harare — ACTING President Joice Mujuru has urged Zimbabweans to help raise funds to revive the health sector while Vice President Cde Joseph Msika yesterday called on the private sector, civil society and other organisations to support HIV and Aids infected and affected people.
Cde Mujuru said such a private-public partnership would go a long way in creating a sound health delivery system.
The Acting President was speaking at the running of the inaugural "Health For All Charity Race Day" at Borrowdale Park Racecourse on Sunday, which was held under the theme "Race Your Dreams to Reality" and relevantly so on the eve of World Aids Day.
The charity racing event was meant to mobilise funds from members of the public and the private sector. The funds would be channelled towards buying equipment, pharmaceutical drugs and repairing damaged equipment in the country's hospitals and clinics.
"Private-public assistance and funding will go a long way in putting together funds that will help revive the health sector, which has been crippled by Western-imposed illegal sanctions. We should give to the fund in order to see the health delivery system revived and strengthened to a position of better serving the people.
"We should also remind our sons and daughters in the Diaspora to also contribute to this new fund, which shall be administered by a committee of people drawn from various sections of the society, who all have a common goal of seeing a stronger health delivery system," Cde Mujuru urged.
Health and Child Welfare Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa reminded people that improving the health delivery system was imperative drawing on the challenges of HIV/Aids and other communicable diseases as a greater incentive for people to unite and improve the health service.
He declared war on disease, urging people to reciprocally form a coalition of the willing against disease, as various diseases had also come together to plague humankind hence the need to return the "favour".
"With the problem of cholera at the moment, it is important to have adequate medicines in stock and sound machinery in our hospitals and health centres. Cholera, in concert with other diseases like HIV and Aids, malaria and tuberculosis, renders a nation weak and vulnerable.
"We need as much funding as we can get in order to combat this cocktail of diseases that is plaguing us and I want to thank the committee and coalition of businesspeople and individuals, including Mashonaland Turf Club, who have donated this race day on their calendar, for their effort at helping
Government raise funds for the improvement of the health delivery system," said Dr Parirenyatwa.
The initiative is looking at raising US$67 million through a fund-raising sub-committee chaired by broadcaster Hugo Ribatika.
Once the money has been raised, it will be administered by a committee that will be audited, with the public being privy to the handling of the funds for the sake of transparency.
Speaking at Chipadze Stadium during the 2008 World Aids Day national commemoration yesterday, Vice President Cde Msika called upon the private sector, civil society and other organisations to join hands with Government and scale up treatment, care and support for both the HIV and Aids infected and affected people.
"I have observed that although our country is well recognised all over the world for tremendous achievement in HIV prevention, our national response to the pandemics remained blighted by daring gaps in treatment, care and support.
"I have always said that as much as the delivery of the health service is the responsibility of Government, it cannot be done effectively without the support of the private sector, civil society and other organisations," he said.
Cde Msika expressed concern at the declining response to the HIV and Aids pandemic nationally.
"Despite an improvement in the availability in supply of the anti-retroviral drugs, very few clients were increment on ARV therapy compared to other years," he said.
VP Msika said he was sure the decline was not linked to national economic challenges since Government had put measures to assist people leaving with HIV and Aids have access to drugs.
"As far as I am concerned this problem points to a bottleneck to our management structures which I urge the Ministry of Health to rationalize immediately," Cde Msika said.
He warned Zimbabweans that the advent of ARVs and easy access to drugs was, however, not a licence to promiscuity and immorality.
The Vice President said the call to scale up treatment, care and support did not mean a budgetary increment but commitments from all stakeholders, policy and care-givers.
HIV and Aids victims, Cde Msika said, required proper feeding which he said was appropriately captured on this year's theme.
The commemorations were held under the theme: Zimbabwe -- Proven Leadership and HIV Prevention; scale-up treatment, care and support.
"Good nutrition is an integral part of the life of people living with HIV as malnutrition associated with HIV infection has dire consequences on the health and quality of life of these people," he said.
He called for a paradigm shift such that more men actively participate in all HIV and Aids-related programmes.
"Past experiences have shown that man usually take a lay-back approach in HIV and Aids programmes only participating when they are given care by our women folks after getting infected," he said.
Speaking at the same occasion Zimbabwe Aids Network director Ms Lindiwe Chaza-Jangira said while Zimbabwe was celebrating the recent decline in HIV prevalence rate, organisations should take the lead in measuring the success and failures from various programmes.
Currently the HIV prevalence rate stood at 15,1 percent down from 18,1 percent in 2006, statistics that have since been endorsed by international organisations.
Ms Chaza-Jangira said while the country has success stories in HIV and Aids prevention, orphans and other vulnerable children, care, treatment and support there were other areas which were overlooked.
"We have areas like prisons and mental health, which are overlooked and a potential area in increasing HIV prevalence rate," Ms Chaza-Jangira said.
She lamented the hyperinflationary environment that has crippled supplementary feeding for people living with HIV and Aids.
Speaking at the same occasion, the deputy Minister of Health and Child Welfare Dr Edwin Muguti said Government hoped to increase the number of people living with HIV and Aids on anti-retroviral drugs.
Currently, there are 140 000 people on the programme yet an estimated 300 000 are in dire need of the drugs.
Dr Muguti said with the recent approval of Zimbabwe's round eight application to the Global Fund to Fight HIV and Aids and the Expanded Support Programme, Government is set to increase clinics dispensing ARVs.
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According to Mai Mujuru,Joe Msika and the one David Parirenyatwa,Zimbabwes Health Delivery System is down to every zimbabwean.Going even further to aportion the responsibility to civic society,Private sector and the Diasporans.I say NO to this nonsense,The Government of every country is responsible for the delivery of healt to its people through taxes paid out to them.Zimbabwe has no government to date but the fools purporting to be "the government of Zimbabwe"continue taxing the small number of those lucky or stupid enough to be still employed.Why would a person who is in the diaspora who is not allowed to vote for the government of their choice under Zanu Pf pay for a health services that does not benefit them?Diasporans are paying taxes in countries they are currently residing ,living a dogs life and working like donkeys taking care of their families they left in Zim.What right thinking person is going to give money to this Zanu establishment while they still are in charge of our important institutions? These three baffons have a very very short memory forgetting that they have only just barred the most needed help a week ago in the form of the Elders.How stupid can a "leadership" get? We know that these guys want to be seen as doing something about cholera while Mugabe is away.These foolish public statements will not make our problems go away.If anything people like mai mujuru obviously with more money than sense should pay back what they stole from the coffers to put the things right
Yes health is everyones responsability,common sence dictates that if you boil water, wash and take basic hygene stepsyou own personal health would in most cases remain good. It would be made a lot easier if the government did not misapropriate funds deposited for exactly that. The government should look also to the root cause of the cholera and anthrax epidemics that are ravaging the country. If govenment departments were doing their jobs and not stealing the funds for water, animal husbandry and agriculture, schools, fire departments, etc. etc then this would never have happened. AS per usual Zanu PF is blaming everyone else for their own blunders rather than facing up to the catastrophy they have caused. They should be asked why NGO'S are still being inhibited from supplying this urgent help needed. Instead when everyone is suffering and dying they call for private/public partnership. When they are intent on nationalising the private sector they are asking for that same sector to bail them out. Maybe they should ask the ministers that have plundered the country to dig deep and donate some of the spoils, give back to the generation they have robbed. Sanctions? I can only see additional funding being pledged from the very countries that have imposed these so called sanctions. I like to statement attributed to Msika "The government is intent on delivering help to those LEAVING with HIV/AIDS." Where are they leaving to and what about those living with it?