Category: Health
Solar for Health project has saved lives, showing that ZESA has blood on its hands for its failures
The thing I hate about Zimbabwe is how it messes with your mind to think basic services are luxuries you should not even think about. Medicine at a hospital? Come back to earth o dreamer. Water out of a tap on demand? What do you think this is, Mansa Musa’s palace? Being the good Zimbabweans […]
UK-based Zimbabwean inventor develops robot helper ‘Milton’ for the NHS and it’s a penguin
William Pasi Sachiti a Zimbabwean inventor based in the UK was challenged by Milton Keynes University Hospital, an NHS trust, to develop a helper robot for the NHS. William and his team created this robot in the form of a penguin and it has been operating live since November 2022. Milton is what they call […]
Spending most of the day staring at screens? Protect your eyes from strain using these home remedies
The life expectancy in Zimbabwe is around 62 years. That means our middle age is in the 30s and as a middle-ager, I can tell you for free, your body starts preparing for the long sleep once you hit the big three-oh. I recently had to tend to my decaying body. A half-life of staring […]
What you should know about the recently published MDPCZ policy on telemedicine.
COVID-19 led to a surge in telemedicine utilization. At the peak of the first wave in the US and UK, more than 90% of medical consultations were conducted through telemedicine. A digital-first approach was adopted, as it was simply not safe for patients to physically interact with their healthcare providers. Zimbabwe also witnessed a greater […]
CIMAS is now ISO/IEC27001:2013 certified. What does that mean?
On the 28th of September 2022, at a low-key but decidedly fancy event, CIMAS Health Group unveiled their ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certification. That’s a lot of letters and numbers that I didn’t know but that matter very much to CIMAS. A quick Google search tells me that this standard, ISO/IEC 27001:2013 (a mouthful, to be sure) specifies […]
“I want to invest in Zimbabwean entrepreneurs at grassroots level” – Fungai Ndemera, Checkup Health CEO
Fungai Ndemera is a successful multi-entrepreneur, angel investor business mentor and STEM ambassador. Fungai has over 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship, digital transformation, culture and BAME ((black, Asian and minority ethnic) health behaviours. She arrived in the UK as an immigrant and could barely speak English. With her GCSE level and a Diploma in […]
Zim Health startups! Check out this Gates Foundation-backed US$50K accelerator
Southbridge A&I, Salient Advisory and SCIDaR have partnered to launch a program called i3 (Investing in Innovation) that is seeking to help 30 African health startups with up to US$50K in funding. The initiative, according to a report by Disrupt Africa, is bankrolled by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and any startup from the […]
Zim healthcare startups! Check out this funding opportunity
Health54 is the healthcare dedicated Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) vehicle of CFAO Group (part of Toyota Tsusho), a key player in mobility, healthcare, consumer goods, infrastructure, and energy in Africa. CFAO Healthcare is a leader in the African pharmaceutical market with operations in more than 23 countries in Africa. We believe that the future of […]
Don’t travel without activating your COVID Vaccination Card’s QR Code
That COVID vaccination card QR Code oversight has come to bite Zimbabweans according to a report by NewsDay which said that port authorities in South Africa and Kenya were calling them fake after scanning the code and getting an error. “I faced difficulties crossing the border when I travelled to Kenya. The authorities said they […]
The Digital Health Symposium is Back!
After a hiatus, the Zimbabwe Medical Association ZIMA is hosting a Digital Health Symposium on the 19th of March as a sequel to the eHealth symposium that was last held in 2019. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic was the reason for the break in continuity. Interestingly, the pandemic is also the major reason why the […]
The QR codes in COVID vaccination cards are apparently useless
In something that isn’t all too surprising because Zimbabwe is a dumpster fire, the QR code in your COVID-19 vaccination card when scanned will give you a “QR Code Not Found” error. We tried it on our end and were baffled as to why this is because the QR was the much-touted security feature that […]
COVID vaccine cards are being stolen bringing doubt to the nation’s statistics
According to a report by the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute (ZDI), COVID vaccine cards are being stolen at healthcare facilities. The report cites poor civil servant pay and those who don’t want to get vaccinated as being the market for the stolen cards. “Theft of Covid-19 vaccination cards at vaccination centres as reported in mainstream media […]
Local startup set to launch digital COVID-19 vaccination passport in November
Despite the QR code upgrade made to the COVID-19 vaccination cards, there has yet to be a digital version of the document. This is also compounded by the problem that we also don’t have a digital contact tracing platform. Well, a local startup called Hiclicker is looking to change that as it has announced that […]
Zimbabwe finally launches a more secure COVID vaccination passport
A couple of weeks ago I railed at the fact that Zimbabweans were being issued COVID-19 vaccination passports with a handwritten card whenever they took up the government’s vaccination offer. Well, it seems the government has finally delivered on their promise to make more secure verified computerised COVID-19 vaccination cards/passports. According to state-owned ZBC, the […]
ZOL is now offering MARS ambulance rescue with internet packages
Local internet service provider (ISP) ZOL has announced it is now offering Medical Air Rescue Service (MARS) through monthly internet subscriptions. The service is open to all ZOL customers be they on pay-as-you-go or uncapped bundles. MARS subscription via ZOL costs ZWL$171.00 or US$2.00 per month. To get on the plan you’ll need to sign […]
Apple is pushing its workers to get vaccinated for COVID-19
Last week the Zimbabwean government announced that it was now mandatory for Civil Servants to be vaccinated. There was an outcry from some quarters about this but it seems it’s the global trend. A lot of employers in Zimbabwe are also pushing their workers to get vaccinated. We have companies like TelOne where vaccination rates […]
The government says it’s mandatory for Civil Servants to be vaccinated
The Zimbabwean government recently announced that it was mandatory for all those employed by the Public Service Commission (PSC), civil servants, to be vaccinated. Prior to this vaccinations were encouraged but not mandatory. However, certain public corporations among them TelOne already had policies that more or less made it mandatory for their workers to be […]
Businesses can stay open till 7 pm as COVID lockdown now at Level 2
President Emmerson Mnangagwa today announced that the current COVID-19 Level four lockdown has been downgraded to Level Two. The curfew hours have been shortened to between 10 PM and 5.30 AM. Businesses are now allowed to operate from 8 AM up to 7 PM while restaurants and bars within hotels and lodges will operate between […]
Africa CDC online COVID-19 results verification platform launches in Zim
Zimbabwe has adopted the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s (Africa CDC) Trusted Travel Platform which allows for online certificate verification based on the Global Haven system. The initiative is meant to combat the slew of fake COVID-19 results certificates that are being created and assures that whoever is being let in at a […]
President Mnangagwa extends COVID lockdown by another fortnight
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has extended the COVID-19 Level 4 lockdown by another two weeks. He cited that although infections have decreased over the last two weeks the number of deaths remains high. President Mnangagwa also said the following: “Several countries globally and regionally are beginning to experience the fourth wave. Quite worrisome to us are […]
Ministry of Health information on COVID-19 vaccination in Zimbabwe
The following is a circular put out by the Ministry of Health and Child Care on COVID-19 Vaccination in Zimbabwe The Ministry of Health and Child Care provides lifesaving vaccines to children and adults through its network of health centres, in schools and in different communities. The Ministry aims to reach everyone in the country […]
Full Text: TelOne makes unvaccinated workers stay at home and withdraws their COVID-19 allowances
On Wednesday (21 July 2021) TelOne issued a notice informing its workers that those among them who had not been vaccinated would now be required to stay home. In addition to this, TelOne said it would no longer be paying COVID-19 allowances to the same group. The message was among a series of COVID-19 counter-measures […]
Opportunities presented by Zimbabwe’s rollout of a National Electronic Health Record system
Since February 2015, the Ministry of Health and Child Care with help of funding partners has been designing, developing, and testing an electronic health record (EHR) system, named “Impilo”. This is meant to reduce the current burden of paper data collection for health workers and ultimately improve the quality of care in public health facilities. […]
The govt is again asking for exemption letters, technology would have made this a smoother process
Despite the government not explicitly admitting it, Zimbabwe is in the throes of a third wave. Ever since the month began, the country has been recording thousands of cases daily, with hundreds of cases coming from each town. Faced with such a spike, the government has now decided to go back to a well-tried and […]
Meet Dawa Health the startup fighting to reduce maternal mortality
Late last week the Telecel Group and Startupbootcamp Afritech announced the finalists for its Africa wide accelerator. Among the chosen few is a Zimbabwean startup called Dawa Health, which offers antenatal care to expecting parents. Their field of interest is especially important because pregnancy-related deaths are caused by insufficient antenatal care. According to the World […]
World Bank gives Africa over US$3 billion for COVID-19 vaccines
World Bank President David Malpass this week met with a delegation of the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT), led by African Union (AU) Special Envoy Strive Masiyiwa, to discuss the multibillion-dollar financing of vaccines for African countries. David Malpass later tweeted a screenshot of the meeting showing him and the bank’s top leadership, discussing […]
VP Chiwenga announces new COVID-19 measures
Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, who is also the Minister for Health this evening announced new COVID-19 measures: MEASURES TO CURB THE SURGE OF COVID-19 1. Fellow Zimbabweans, the country has done very well in terms of curbing the spread of Covid 19. In addition, our vaccination against Covid 19 is going on very well. The […]
Africa signs deal for 400 million Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine doses
220 million doses to start with
Govt to roll out ID-linked COVID-19 passports to curb fake certificates
It’s coming with some sturdy security measures.
Parirenyatwa & Higher Life Foundation offer free COVID-19 testing for students
Free testing for students from 08:00 to 15:00.