THE government says it has partnered with Zimbabweans in the diaspora to construct five schools in Matabeleland South’s Bulilima district, in a move meant to ease the long distances that pupils have over the years been travelling to access education. This comes as the country is faced with a deficit of close to 3 000…
THE African Centre for Global Health Innovation and Research (ACGHIR), National University of Science and Technology (Nust) and the Zimbabwe Pharmaceuticals (Zimpharm) have partnered to capacitate pharmacy personnel to resuscitate hospital medicines manufacturing units (HMMUs) in the country’s southern region. The principal of ACGHIR, Lemson Machibiza, told the Daily News yesterday that health personnel would…
BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) says residents in the second capital have to brace for longer periods without water supplies as most of the pumps that supply the precious liquid are badly damaged. This comes after all Bulawayo suburbs, except for the central business district and industries, have gone for three days without water after BCC…
POLICE in Bulawayo have launched a manhunt for four robbers who brutally attacked two security guards who were protecting mobile phone network boosters, in two separate incidents. Bulawayo police spokesperson inspector Abednico Ncube said in the first incident, a security guard was attacked while guarding a mobile phone network booster in Pumula South. “Police are…
POLICE have launched a search for a local woman, Jacqueline Takure (nee) Chikukwa, 45, on charges of human trafficking of five Zimbabweans to Oman in the Arabian region, where they were later treated as slaves and sexually exploited. The five victims have since been brought home with the assistance of the government. Takure lured the…
THREE people were severely injured after Bulawayo City Council (BCC) municipality police officers fired rubber bullets to disperse Fifth Avenue informal traders on Thursday who were protesting against being removed from their vending sites. This comes after BCC raided the informal traders, leading to skirmishes between them and municipal police along Fifth Avenue. Riot police…
THE government has expressed grave concern about gender-based violence (GBV) against men and is working to address the issue, including by involving men and boys in awareness campaigns. Speaking at an online engagement with churches yesterday, Women Affairs ministry chief director Lillian Matsika said while GBV was one of the most pervasive human rights violations…
THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) is set to cut off water supplies to all the residential suburbs in the second capital for an indefinite period due to power outages. In a statement yesterday, BCC town clerk, Christopher Dube, said the local authority would be forced to cut water supplies for the entire city, save for…
THE Matopos Research Institute has embarked on a programme to produce dairy cross-breeds of 300 indigenous cows after artificially inseminating the herd in effort to close the country’s milk deficit gap. Rural farmers are expected to be the main beneficiaries of the project. The cross-breeding programme is part of the research institution, in partnership with…
MANY women are continuing to shun female condoms, with their uptake in the country still way below that of male condoms. Speaking to the Daily News yesterday, the monitoring and evaluation manager for the National Aids Council (Nac), Amon Mpofu, said more awareness was thus needed to encourage women to use these condoms in the interest of their health and well-being.This comes after Zimbabwe recently joined the international community in commemorating World Condom Day, amid estimates that the country needs about 173 million condoms a year as they are at the heart of preventing HIV-Aids infections.“Female condom uptake is much lower than that for male condoms. It seems that many females generally prefer males to wear condoms. Why they prefer male condoms, we are not yet very sure,” Mpofu said.He added that what was worrying was the still relatively high incidents of new HIV infections in the country, especially among young women — which could be prevented if females were able to better protect themselves.“Nac is worried about HIV infections among women, which are always higher than that for males due to several issues which include gender-based violence.“We have instances where young women who are adolescents are getting infections from older men. These issues can be curbed a bit when women are aware of how they can protect themselves better.“It is also of concern that the HIV knowledge gap continues to widen, especially with regards to the younger generation who are the most vulnerable.“This shows that there is a need to intensify adolescents’ differentiated care guideline models that specifically target them in order to reduce cases of HIV among them, which are a cause of major concern,” Mpofu said further.Last year, the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC) distributed 375 861 male condoms against 30 559 female ones.It expressed concern then over the low uptake of female condoms, as well as the soaring cases of gender-based violence in the country.Female condoms are also 95 percent effective in preventing pregnancy when used correctly.However, statistics show that due to incorrect use, they are 79-percent effective — and hence 21 women in every 100 who use a female condom become pregnant. Male condoms, in comparison, are 85 percent effective.
