ZNFPC allays fears on contraceptive shortage
drugs and other consumables. “We are fortunate enough to be receiving support from government and our partners. We are procuring stock without much difficulty, so for the foreseeable future, I can confirm that our stocks can and will sustain us,” said Dr Zwangobani.
She said ZNFPC had no power to intervene in the current pricing irregularities at pharmacies that privately sourced their drugs.
“Health centres that are benefiting from the public procurement of drugs have no reason to charge exorbitant prices as the procurement regime has not changed.
“However, those that are privately sourcing the contraceptives for resale, there is nothing much we can do about that. It is not fair for drugs procured with government funding and support to be sold at exorbitant prices to the public,” said Dr Zwangobani.
The price hike madness on contraceptives is posing a major challenge to women across the country as they already have unmet contraceptive needs, particularly those residing in rural areas.
The unmet needs for contraceptives among married women aged 15-49 years in WHO’s Africa Region is estimated at 24 percent and lags considerably behind the rest of the world, according to the Atlas of African health statistics 2016.
However, Zimbabwe remains one of the top countries to scale up health services in Africa. Critics believe high literacy rates in Zimbabwe should reflect a knowledgeable and progressive society that is able to make healthy choices.
According to the 2015 Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey — the country exceeds the global average on contraceptive prevalence in sub Saharan Africa with 67 percent of married women aged 15 to 49 years having access to contraceptives.
Zimbabwe’s family planning strategy is to increase the contraceptive prevalence rate from 59 percent to 68 percent by 2020, and in the process reduce teenage pregnancies from 24 percent to 12 percent by 2020. — @andile_tshuma THE Commission of Inquiry which is conducting hearings into the post-election violence that rocked Harare has said it will conduct hearings in Bulawayo on Friday and Gweru on Saturday.
The commission said it is going to conduct hearings outside the capital city to give all Zimbabweans a chance to be heard.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa appointed a seven-member team led by former South African President Mr Kgalema Motlanthe to investigate and make recommendations on the August 1 violence that resulted in the death of six people.
Commission of Inquiry spokesperson Professor Lovemore Madhuku said the commission was targeting people who could have been in Harare when the violence occurred but are not resident there.
In Bulawayo, the hearings will be conducted at Holiday Inn starting at 10AM while in Gweru they will be held at the Suburban Village the following day at the same time. “The commission is coming to Bulawayo and not just Bulawayo but other areas to give opportunities for Zimbabweans outside Harare who may have something to say in respect to the terms of reference of the commission.
“They might be people outside Harare who may have witnessed what happened in Harare but are not based in Harare. We have freedom of movement in the country and because of freedom of movement the person might have been in Harare on August 1 or before that and after that,” said Prof Madhuku.
He said the commission does not want to leave anything to chance hence the decision to conduct hearings outside Harare.
Prof Madhuku said the commission would also be accepting possible recommendations on what people expect when demonstrations occur in the country.
He said at the moment it’s not clear when the police or military should intervene hence part of the recommendations would state when the armed forces