Vaccination – NEWSSPACE

Vaccines save lives

**WHO Zimbabwe Representative Dr Desta Tiruneh**

BY MUNYARADZI BLESSING DOMA

Vaccines are one of the major medical advances that have been made, leading to the saving of many lives as they are safe to use, World Health Organisation (WHO) Zimbabwe Representative, Dr Desta Tiruneh has said.

Dr Tiruneh revealed this on Tuesday during a media science café organised by WHO and Health Communicators Forum.

According to WHO, vaccination is defined as “a simple, safe and effective way of protecting you against harmful diseases, before you come into contact with them. It uses your body’s natural defenses to build resistance to specific infections and makes your immune system stronger.”

Dr Tiruneh revealed this as Zimbabwe is preparing for another round of oral cholera vaccine soon.

“Zimbabwe is preparing for another round of oral cholera vaccination, for a small targeted area this time. The vaccine is going to be received soon, then we have to do the campaign.

“One of the issues that we noticed in the last campaign is that some people or some different groups of people for different reasons, either religion or other conspiracy theories, they don’t want to take vaccines.

“But if we talk about medical advances, vaccines are the best thing that ever happened in health sector because with the vaccines you can prevent lots of deaths,” said Dr Tiruneh.

He revealed that it was unfortunate that many children were dying of diseases which can be easily prevented by vaccination, hence there is need for more awareness such that people are fully aware of the life saving impact of vaccines.

“We can see for example I can tell you that small pox is gone and now we have polio almost at the point of eradication because vaccines change the world.

“We have many kids that are dying because of measles and measles you have vaccination, with two doses, you are done for life.

“You have yellow fever, I think with just one dose, you are done for life.

“So we have vaccines which can prevent lots of killer diseases, so this is something that we should appreciate.

“But I know with anti-vaxxers, they will create all sorts of stories, that if you take this, you will become sterile, but people will be infertile for other reasons but they associate it with that (vaccination) and then they say no, this is my lived experience, I was vaccinated now I cannot have a baby.

“But it has nothing to do with the vaccine. And there is no proof,” added Dr Tiruneh.

Similar sentiments were also echoed by Dr Lincoln Charimari, WHO Zimbabwe, Emergency Incident Manager, who spoke of the oral cholera saying it is safe as it can be used in all people who are aged one year and above.

“It can even be used in pregnant women, it can be used by even those who are HIV positive, it’s one of the safest vaccines around, so it is safe and you use it with other measures.

“And now that the cases have reduce to zero, it doesn’t mean it (cholera) has completely gone away, we have to continue to be vigilant and to continue to observe the necessary hygiene practices,” said Dr Charimari.

Anti-vaxxers are people who are opposed to vaccination and it has been revealed that several vaccination campaigns were hampered because of conspiracy theories around vaccination.

It said while anti-vaxxers refuse to vaccinate, they have also influenced other people not to vaccinate, giving all sort of theories.

Zim hopes to benefit from US$600 million cervical cancer fund

**Dr Bente Mikkelsen and Dr Douglas Mombeshora-pic WHO Zimbabwe**

BY MUNYARADZI BLESSING DOMA

Zimbabwe is hoping to be one of the countries set to benefit from US$600 million which global health funders have pledged for the elimination of cervical cancer.

The money is meant for increasing vaccination, screening and treatment of the disease, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) reports is the fourth most common cancer in women globally.

WHO further reports that there were around 660 000 new cases and around 350 000 deaths in 2022 owing to the disease.

During her recent visit to Zimbabwe along with her colleagues from WHO headquarters, Dr Bente Mikkelsen, Director NCD (at WHO Headquarters), said if everything is put in place, the country could benefit from this cervical cancer initiative.

“So we are very happy, this is the first time since the cervical cancer elimination initiative was launched by Dr Tedros (Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General), that many partners come together. So until now, the funding partners were only focusing on more or less on the vaccination.

“So now everybody realised that we have to do at least two things at the same time, we need to vaccinate, we need to screen and treat the early stages and of course we need to offer treatment.

“So I’m very happy this is a good sign, it’s a game changer but as I have said this is not money we can call on just like this, we need to present cases, we need to work with the partners, we need to make World Bank, the Global Fund, the Gates, all these partners, USAID, coming together and they have realized this commitment.

“So this is why I’m here as well, I was invited by the Honourable Minister (Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Douglas Mombeshora), we were both in Colombia (at the Global Cervical Cancer Elimination Forum), so we are trying to make this happen in Zimbabwe,” said Dr Mikkelsen.

Dr Mikkelsen added that the pledged US$600 million is a lot of money which would go a long way in fighting cervical cancer but countries had to apply for it.

“It’s not money that we can just grab, we need to apply for it, we need to show what we need, so that we have a shopping list of what we need and this is also something that we would want to help you. There are a lot of partners, and I think we can support Zimbabwe to get use on some of these new pledges but also maybe to make the partnerships more efficient,” she added.

Dr Mombeshora said getting global health funders make such a pledge would go a long way in eliminating cervical cancer, as he also revealed that no county could work alone on this fight, hence there is need to have partners.

“We work with partners, you can’t work in isolation, like the doctor (Dr Mikkelsen) said, we met in Colombia; and during that meeting, we came up with this issue of saying we need support and they said for us to be able to support you, we want to see, what is on the ground.

“That’s why we are also taking them to the rural area where the screening starts and the difficulties that are met there, then we can map a way forward.

“Like she said, we will come up with a document from this visit and we will be meeting again in Geneva in three weeks’ time and maybe come up with a concrete arrangement to say how do we move forward, what kind of support can we get from them,” said Dr Mombeshora.

He added, “she mentioned now that there is a fund that has been established of US$600 million, we want to tap into that, so that we can also get equipment, get training so that we strengthen our cervical cancer elimination plan, so that’s the way we are heading to.”

It is reported that while cervical cancer is preventable and treatable, Zimbabwe continues to lose 2 000 women to the disease every, hence there is need for more consented efforts to fight this disease.

And it is also estimated that 3 000 new cases are diagnosed each year as the country is ranked fourth globally and in the region.

Zimbabwe introduced a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination program in 2018, achieving an impressive coverage rate of 89,7 percent in the first year of introduction.

The country also established screening programmes for early detection of cervical cancer, though the screening coverage remains low, with only 20 percent of the population accessing screening services as of 2019.

It is also reported that urban areas exhibited a screening rate as low as 3 percent, while rural areas saw slightly higher rates of 10 percent.

Screening programmes are available with over 200 sites conducting Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIAC) and 60 sites performing HPV tests for early detection.

Cholera is caused by poor hygiene and not demons-Rev Chitanda

UDACIZA Secretary General Reverend Innocent Chitanda

BY MUNYARADZI BLESSING DOMA

The Cholera outbreak which has wrecked havoc in the country is caused by poor hygiene standards and the disease should never be linked to any demonic attack, Union for the Development of Apostolic Churches and Zionists in Africa, Secretary General Reverend Innocent Chitanda has revealed.

Reverend Chitanda further revealed that hoping to get treatment of Cholera from divine intervention will be stretching it too far as this can only be done by getting treatment and practising good hygiene.

He revealed this on Thursday during a media science cafe on Life Course Immunisation, which was organised by the Health Communicators Forum and the Humanitarian Information Facilitation Centre.

His sentiments follow calls made by some sects which shun medical attention, saying the disease will be treated through divine intervention.

“There are demonic diseases, then there are diseases which are caused by the environment; so if we speak of Cholera, there is no way we can include the Holy Spirit in Cholera because it’s not a demonic disease.

“The moment we regard it as demonic, then we have to use the spiritual aspect but Cholera is not a demonic disease, we must be true about it.

“It is caused by the negligence of a human being, whoever has put his waste in the water sources and people by chance get in contact with that dirt.

“So there is no way we can associate the Holy Spirit with Cholera just because it is human error which caused Cholera,” said Reverend Chitanda.

According to the World Health Organisation, Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by eating or drinking food or water that it contaminated with bacterium vibrio.

It spreads rapidly in areas where there is poor sanitation.

However a member of Vapostori VeDare Madzimai Chipo Musonza who was part of the meeting, did not seem to agree, saying that their belief in their church is that all diseases are only cured by the Holy Spirit.

She said despite numerous calls for their members to participate in vaccination programmes or other health initiatives, they will continue to shy away because their only source of hope lies in the divine power of God.

“As members of the Vapostori VeDare, we don’t believe in immunization, even going to the hospital. we only believe in the Holy Spirit.

“So it is our belief that there is no disease which can be said to be incurable by the Holy Spirit. We believe that anything that can trouble let’s say a child, can only be solved by the Holy Spirit.

“And I can give you an example of maternity; we have women in our church who are responsible for that. We have our own midwives within the church who are there to make sure that all deliveries are done in safe and clean environments.

“You can also look at our own children; you will find that there are just a few who maybe of ill-health because they will always be protected by the Holy Spirit.

“Like when you talk of fontanel (nhova), we know it’s caused by dehydration, so we make sure that we encourage all mothers to give their children enough water and there will also be prayers done for those same children so that they are always protected,” said Madzimai Musonza.

She also revealed that at their church they had been warned prior to the emergence of Covid-19 and they were all protected by prayers.

“When Covid-19 came we were not vaccinated because what we believe in is that there is no disease outbreak which will start without the Holy Spirit aware of it.

“So when the Holy Spirit warns us, we will be given special prayers in relation to that (outbreak) so that we are protected.

“So yes diseases can come but we will always be protected by the Holy Spirit, so we are not even worried or bothered,” said Madzimai Musonza.

The Chairperson of UDACIZA Harare Province, Mr Njagu said while there are about 1 000 apostolic sects and their organisation has 620 members (churches and zionists), they all don’t have the same beliefs.

He said some believe in vaccination, while others shun it totally.

“We all don’t believe the same, some believe in vaccinations, while others don’t believe in that. Yes in my church we do believe that diseases can be cured by prayer and we even have some people who come and get prayed for.

“But we then discovered that there are some diseases which can be cured by prayer while others will need medical attention, like in the case of Cholera.

“We saw that we cannot talk of prayer so we allowed our people to get medical assistance; I’m saying this on behalf of my church.

“So we are encouraging others to follow the medical route especially when it comes to Cholera, because we saw that there are times we were burying people as a result of vaccine preventable diseases,” said Mr Njagu.

City of Harare Expanded Programme on Immunisation Officer, Sister Monica Muto, said though some apostolic sects say they don’t seek medical attention, some of their members come nicodemously for health services.

She said in some cases, people end up making individual decisions which they know will save them and their families.

“It’s something that we noticed that though some sects bar their members from seeking medical attention, some members go to the hospitals nicodemously.

“It is something we have understood hence in such cases, they don’t queue with the rest of the people, we offer them special treatment because we are aware of the issues issues, we give them privacy.

“For some you will find out that their husbands will be refusing that they take the children to seek medical attention but the mothers want to take their children to the hospitals so we offer them the necessary support. For some we keep their medical records at the health institutions,” said Sister Muto.

There has been several calls for health authorities to find common ground with some religious sects as it was seen that issues to do with health science have a huge difference from some spiritual beliefs.

Madzimai Chipo Musonza

Feedback: munyabless@yahoo.com

X: @munyabless Facebook: Munyaradzi Blessing Kefas