ED takes Zim pitch to the world
1 drug per week, hope for HIV patients
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa this week makes his maiden direct pitch to the world of global business when he leads Zimbabwe’s first ever delegation to World Economic Forum in Switzerland, a perfect platform on which to showcase that the country is indeed open for business.
Less than two months after being sworn in as Head of State and Government, President Mnangagwa will this week hold key bilateral meetings with important business and political leaders in Davos.
Since his inauguration, President Mnangagwa’s gospel has been that Zimbabwe is open for business, highlighting that his administration’s win-win policies are geared towards boosting and safeguarding investments, and improving people’s livelihoods. It is an economic gospel that is wellgrounded: In 2017, a leading US research firm listed Zimbabwe among the top three African countries with the best potential return on investment.
The researchers pointed, in particular, to Zimbabwe’s agriculture and agro-processing, mining, manufacturing, ICT and private equity sectors as lucrative — all of them areas that President Mnangagwa has already been targeting for investment, growth and development.
Further, respected German-American investment strategist Dr Mark Mobius — who manages a portfolio worth more than US$47 billion — recently cited Zimbabwe as among frontier markets worth investing in.
Last week, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Dr Sibusiso Moyo said of the Davos meeting: “It’s a huge opportunity for business in the global community. We hope and expect the interactions we will have with business and various world leaders will definitely position and re-brand Zimbabwe to re-engage and deepen relations with the rest of the international community.
“His Excellency’s delegation leaves on Sunday January 21 2018, and the programme will start January 22. There will be a series of meetings, which include bilateral engagements (with other Heads of State) as well as with businesspeople, among other personalities. A list of those the President will meet is being compiled; we will advise you of the personalities.”
Special Advisor to the President Ambassador Christopher Mutsvangwa said WEF would open major investment opportunities for Zimbabwe.
“This is an important trip because for the first time, Zimbabwe’s focus is the world business investment community. Remember, most of the goods and services delivered in the world are in the hands of the private sector.
“Out of the US$90 trillion global GDP, probably 90 percent is accounted for — in terms of goods and services which are on the marketplace — by private companies. And there are a slew of private companies both from the East and West that all troop to Davos to exchange ideas on where the world should go. These are the people to whom the President will be giving attention.
“These are the global-class investors of the world; 2 000-3 000 top class companies. Their chief executives and chairpersons will be there — a community that drives global investment.
“For the first time, Zimbabwe will be saying we have this attractive investment destination called Zimbabwe, well-endowed with resources, a very capable and well-educated population — the best in Africa; but more than that, a very stable political environment.
“This is what the world will hear from the President and he is being given an opportunity to market Zimbabwe to the best businesspeople in the world. That should give more impetus for more FDI coming into Zimbabwe. The bane of Zimbabwe over the last 30-40 years has been shortage of capital.
“In fact, it extends beyond that. In the last 60 years since UDI, Zimbabwe has generally been starved of capital. Now, we have a chance to appeal to captains of industry, to the movers and shakers of the world investment market. They are the ones the President will be talking to.”
Former World Bank country head in Zimbabwe Dr Mungai Lenneiye equated the WEF to the United Nations General Assembly for business.
Dr Lenneiye chairs the Zimbabwe Business Club which facilitated President Mnangagwa’s WEF preparatory meeting with captains of industry in Harare last Thursday.
“I see the World Economic Forum at the same level as the United Nations in terms of global significance. The WEF is the UN Summit of global economics. It is the highest summit of economic branding.
“The UN is the highest level of political gathering and I know that Zimbabwe has taken its political branding to a high level before at the UN. Now is the time to achieve the same in the economic sphere. I believe that even if Zimbabwe gets its economic branding to half the level of its political branding, the HIV patients will soon heave a sigh of relief as they will no longer need to carry a lot of pills with the rolling out of a new antiretroviral drug which will be taken only once a week, Sunday News has learnt.
Scientists in the United States have conducted trials of the new ARVs that will see a patient taking one drug per week and it will contain enough medicine to last that period. This means that drug intake will be reduced from 30 to just four per month.
Director Aids and TB unit in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Dr Owen Mugurungi said the move was a step in the right direction.
“Once completed and approved we will be more than glad to embrace these new ARVs because it improves adherence to medication which has been a challenge in the country and beyond,” he said.
He said most people who defer on HIV treatment was because of pill burden which would have increased. He said some patients have the dilemma of being on ARVs, blood pressure, d i abe t e s a n d tuberculosis drugs at one go, so there was a tendency to default treatment or have poor adherence.
But with just four tablets a month for HIV, he said patients could safely take the other treatments with fewer difficulties.
On the other side, Dr Mugurungi said once studies and trials for the new drug were approved then it would also translate to having its packaging reduced and storage much easier as there would be fewer drugs to store and distribute.
Dr Mugurungi said as a ministry they would want to then know what measures to take in the event that a patient develops diarrhoea or vomits after ingesting the drugs.
“We have moved from a period where a patient would take four ARVs three times a day to taking one tablet a day so it is highly possible that we can take one drug per week or even one per month. Better still if we can get to a stage where we can get an injection form of ARV,” he said. e cost of the drugs was also mentioned as a factor to consider, Dr Mugurungi said the hope is that the drugs will come at an affordable amount for patients. Scientists undertaking the study on one drug per week said the drugs also will be administered on patients at risk of contracting HIV in the same manner. The drug delivery capsule was developed as it might help to address this problem of adherence. The capsule consists of a star-shaped structure with six arms that can be loaded with drugs, folded inward, and encased in a smooth coating. After the capsule is swallowed, the arms unfold and gradually release their cargo. The capsule is then broken down in to smaller pieces that pass through the digestive system easily.