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Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe

International Activity Report, 2009 In June 2009, the cholera epidemic that had started in August 2008 was officially declared over. According to the UN, almost 100,000 people had contracted cholera and more than 4,000 people had died from the disease. Furthermore, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS here is among the highest in the world. MSF responded to the cholera outbreak, treating more than 65,000 people, and also provided treatment for HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB).   Political and social instability At the beginning of 2009, political turmoil and social unrest forced some hospitals to close or run at minimum capacity because of a lack of basic drugs, supplies and medical staff. However, after an effort to halt the country...
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“No Way In Means No Way Out”: South African Immigration Policy entraps Asylum Seekers in Catch-22 situation

01 February 2012
Musina, South Africa. Congolese men
Congolese men rest in the heat of the afternoon in the Men Shelter in the township. The shelter is taken care of by " I believe in Jesus Christ" Church. Musina, Limpopo Province, South Africa.
Johannesburg/Musina - Thousands of asylum seekers fleeing instability and persecution run the risk of deportation at one of South Africa’s busiest border regions as immigration authorities make it impossible to apply for asylum, contravening national and international Refugee Law and showing blatant disregard for the humanitarian and medical consequences, warns Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF). The international medical humanitarian organisation, which treats vulnerable migrants in its medical projects in and around Musina and Johannesburg, calls upon the South African Government to respect its obligations for the protection of asylum seekers and refugees coming to its borders...
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Global Fund cuts spell more AIDS deaths, more HIV infections, & rationing lifesaving treatment

25 November 2011
South Africa’s Budget Expenditure Monitoring Forum warns *NOTE: The Budget Expenditure Monitoring Forum [BEMF] is a group of civil society organisations concerned with HIV/AIDS funding in South Africa and the Southern African region. BEMF includes SECTION27, the Treatment Action Campaign, Médecins Sans Frontières South Africa, the Centre for Economic Governance and AIDS in Africa, the Free State AIDS Coalition and World Vision.   JOHANNESBURG –The shock announcement by the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria that financial shortfalls forced the cancellation of its Round 11 of new grants threatens to run back the clock on the gains made in the fight against HIV. The Global Fund financial...
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IRIN: SOUTH AFRICA - Migrants’ health care hit by deportations

20 December 2011
migrants, mobile populations, health passport, zimbabwe, south africa
Undocumented migrants about to be transported to the border for deportation. Anthony Kaminju/IRIN
While most nations are dependent to some extent on the world’s 214 million migrants for skills and labour, few ensure these migrants have access to their health systems, something that could have dire public health consequences, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM)... Meanwhile, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and several other organizations have raised concerns about the poor access to medical services for migrants detained in the border town of Musina.... We’ve come across [HIV-positive] patients who were arrested and detained there without their ARVs," said Christine Mwongera, MSF's project coordinator in Musina. "We also found TB cases that hadn’t been...
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Sixty years on, governments are still failing refugees

08 December 2011
Somali refugees take apart their makeshift shelter in the outskirts of Dagahaley
refugee crises in 2011 and challenges for the future
This week, world leaders will gather in Geneva to commemorate 60 years of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Yet it is an anniversary that the world’s 15.1 million refugees have little reason to celebrate. Today, states are increasingly shutting their borders and restricting the assistance they give to refugees and people seeking asylum. By Christopher Stokes, MSF Belgium General Director Read the briefing paper: The 60th anniversary of the UN Refugee Convention: refugee crises in 2011 and challenges for the future   Refugees from the recent conflict in Libya are assessed by MSF staff in Lampedusa, Italy. Photo: Mattia Insolera We can expect ministers and heads of state to...
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World Aids Day: Positive Thinking

30 November 2011
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
  Paul Foreman, MSF Head of Mission, Zimbabwe This is an edited version of a blog by MSF's Paul Foreman, Head of Mission, Zimbabwe World Aids Day – a day on which the slogan ‘Getting to Zero’ is meant to have some resonance: Zero new HIV infections; zero discrimination and zero AIDS related deaths. Let’s have a look at these noble ambitions one at a time in the Zimbabwean context. Start with the last one – zero AIDS related deaths – that would be brilliant for Zimbabwe. It would be quite a journey, because in 2009 (the last year for which figures are available) 83,000 people died from AIDS. Preventing Aids deaths There are two ways to stop...
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HIV Global Fund: an interview with Dr Unni Karunakara

30 November 2011
antiretroviral treatment
Lusikisiki, South Africa. Patient taking her antiretroviral treatment
In a move that could have a profound impact on patients in developing countries, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria has announced it won’t be accepting any grant applications this year to support treatment programmes because of a catastrophic drop in donor funding.  MSF international president, Dr Unni Karunakara The Global Fund, financed largely by governments, was set up ten years ago as a ‘war chest’ to fight the spiralling AIDS pandemic and tackle malaria and TB, the other two infectious diseases that claim millions of lives each year in developing countries. In many countries, MSF works alongside the national health authorities who rely on Global Fund support to...
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Positive Generation: Voices for an AIDS-free future - MSF pays tribute to the people fighting HIV/AIDS

01 December 2011
Positive Generation
Positive Generation: Voices for an AIDS-free future
Recent progress of the fight against AIDS threatened by funding shortfalls “Positive Generation: Voices for an AIDS-free future” is a project based on songs from HIV support groups in Zimbabwe and international artists who contributed voluntarily. They include Alejandro Sanz, Paula Fernandes, Estelle and Oliver TUKU Mtukudzi and many others. The aim of this project is to raise awareness about the reality of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa by highlighting how people on treatment can still live ‘positive’ lives. It also shows the importance of prevention of mother-to-child transmission programs and warns about the consequences of the current funding shortfalls on the lives of thousands of...
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INTERVALO! sporting event against HIV/Aids

06 October 2011
Intervalo! teams from Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and South Africa
INTERVALO! teams
To raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and the challenges in treating the epidemic in southern Africa, MSF hosted the INTERVALO! sporting event in Maputo, Mozambique on 14 September, midway during the 10th All Africa Games. The event brought together 24 athletes, made up of patients living positively with HIV along with MSF staff involved in HIV care from 5 Southern African countries – Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. INTERVALO! highlighted the determination and commitment of people on the frontlines of the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and demonstrated the positive impact of antiretroviral drugs in fighting a disease that wipes out 2 million people worldwide each year. Each of the fun sporting events...
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Women's struggle against HIV in rural Zimbabwe

19 May 2011
MSF staff tests a child for HIV at Bubude Clinic in Tsholotsho District, Zimbabw
MSF staff tests a child for HIV at Bubude Clinic in Tsholotsho District, Zimbabwe
MSF staff tests a child for HIV at Bubude Clinic in Tsholotsho District, where MSF is helping the Ministry of Health decentralize HIV/AIDS treatment and the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) program. Photo: Amaia Esparza/MSF It’s Easter in Zimbabwe, and women are flocking to rural clinics to get contraceptives. Men are coming back from South Africa to spend the holidays at home. Women know their husbands have sexual partners in the neighboring country. They also know that injectable or oral contraceptives won’t protect them from HIV and sexually transmitted infections. But at least they prevent unwanted pregnancies and save innocent lives from the deadly virus....
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by Dr. Radut.