We are supporting case management of COVID-19 cases who are in isolation in Harare and upgrading facility capacity to 164 beds, while WASH team provides additional support in communities.
OUR COVID-19 RESPONSE IN ZIMBABWE
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Right now, Médecins Sans Frontières is providing much needed support and medical care in over 30 countries to counter the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our teams are also gearing up to confront potential outbreaks in the hundreds of areas we were already working before the pandemic struck. We are deploying medical staff, sending supplies and applying nearly 50 years of experience fighting epidemics to protect the most vulnerable and save lives.
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Zimbabwe's economy has been in decline since the 1990s, with very few funds available for any public expenditure and social services. Poverty and unemployment are endemic and political strife is commonplace.
The country’s health sector faces numerous challenges, including shortages of medical commodities and essential medicines. MSF runs water, sanitation and hygiene projects, provides cervical cancer screening and treatment, offers care for victims of sexual violence, and responds to emergencies.
Médecins Sans Frontières has worked in Zimbabwe since 2000.
Healthcare in Zimbabwe
MSF currently runs projects in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Child Care to provide wide-ranging care for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and mental health issues, as well as for non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
Although the HIV prevalence rate has decreased by almost half, there are still major gaps in vital treatments and services available to patients, such as the availability of routine viral load monitoring and second-line antiretroviral (ARV) treatment.
MSF Training of the peer-to-peer counselling strategy for patients in prison for HIV/AIDS care. © Ikram N'gadi / MSF
MSF has supported the scale-up of viral load testing in 40 health facilities and the management of patients whose antiretroviral therapy had failed. Staff also assisted with the treatment of non-communicable diseases such as asthma, hypertension and diabetes, and piloted the integration of treatment for HIV-positive patients living with NCDs.
After 11 years of offering treatment, care and support to more than a quarter of a million HIV patients, and thousands of TB patients, MSF handed over the Epworth HIV/TB project to the health ministry at the end of 2017.
MSF continues to run HIV outreach programs using patient-friendly, empowering models of care for hard-to-reach communities whose nearest health facilities can be up to 180 kilometres away.
MSF teams run water, sanitation and hygiene projects, improving the provision of clean water to vulnerable communities by rehabilitating and upgrading boreholes and drilling new ones, and carrying out mass vaccination campaigns against cholera and other infectious diseases.
Find out more about Zimbabwe
Médecins Sans Frontières has been working in Afghanistan since 1980, providing emergency surgical care, responding to conflict and natural disasters, and treating people cut off from healthcare.
MSF worked in Angola from 1983 until 2007. Why were we there? Armed conflict Endemic/Epidemic disease Social violence/Healthcare exclusion
MSF worked in Argentina from 2001 until 2003. Why were we there? Providing essential medicines and supplies
Why are we there? Endemic/epidemic disease Social violence/healthcare exclusion Natural disaster
Cameroon is facing multiple and overlapping crises, including recurrent epidemics, malnutrition due to food insecurity, displacement, and conflict.
Why are we there? Armed conflict Endemic/epidemic disease Healthcare exclusion
Why are we there? Armed conflict Healthcare exclusion Natural disaster
The political, economic and military crises of 2002-2010 have taken a severe toll on the Ivorian health system.
MSF worked in Ecuador until 2007. Why were we there? Endemic/Epidemic disease Natural disaster
In France, we work with migrants and refugees, who encounter policies and practices aimed at preventing them from settling or claiming their rights.
Why are we there? Armed conflict Endemic/epidemic disease Social violence/heathcare exclusion
Haiti’s healthcare system remains precarious in the wake of natural disasters and ongoing political and economic crises. Ongoing disasters have led to Haiti becoming the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
Honduras has experienced years of political, economic and social instability, and has one of the highest rates of violence in the world. This has great medical, psychological and social consequences for people.
An MSF team in Hong Kong opened a project at the end of January focusing on health education for vulnerable people. Community engagement is a crucial activity of any outbreak response and in Hong Kong, this focuses on groups who are less likely to have access to important medical information, such as the socio-economically disadvantaged. The team is also targeting those who are more vulnerable to developing severe disease if they are infected, such as the elderly.
MSF worked in Indonesia between 1995 and 2009 Why were we there? Natural disaster
Jordan hosts over 700,000 refugees, according to the UNHCR, many of whom reside in camps or have settled in the country.
Although health services are being progressively restored in Liberia, important gaps persist, notably in specialised paediatric care and mental health.
Libya remains fragmented by a decade of conflict and political instability. The breakdown of law and order, the collapse of the economy, and fighting have decimated the healthcare system.
Access to medical care remains very limited in the north and centre of Mali due to a lack of medical staff and supplies and spiralling violence between armed groups.
Why are we there?
- Armed conflict
- Access to healthcare
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In Mozambique we are responding to emergencies including disease outbreaks, providing care to people with advanced HIV, while also working in the conflict-ridden Cabo-Delgado province.
Why are we there? Endemic/epidemic disease Social violence/healthcare exclusion
Why are we there? Providing comprehensive emergency healthcare to people in remote regions of Pakistan is a priority, yet accessibility and security are a constraint for both Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and patients.
MSF worked in Rwanda from 1991 until 2007.
Why were we there? Conflict Healthcare exclusion Endemic/Epidemic disease
Why are we there? Endemic/epidemic disease Healthcare exclusion
Why are we there? Armed conflict Endemic/epidemic disease Healthcare exclusion
Why are we there? Armed conflict Endemic/Epidemic disease Healthcare exclusion
Why are we there? Endemic/epidemic disease Social violence Healthcare exclusion
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