(IRIN) – A measles outbreak has hit 28 of Zimbabwe’s 62 districts and is still spreading, but efforts to vaccinate people in some quarters is being hampered by religious convictions.

According to the latest World health Organisation (WHO) Epidemiological Bulletin, “Nearly 1,200 suspected cases were reported since the start of the outbreak in October 2009 … 221 cases have been confirmed … 50 community deaths have been reported.”

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) as well as other organizations in the health sector have embarked on an intensive vaccination programme. “The campaign is targeting all children between the ages of six months and 14 years,” UNICEF’s Zimbabwe spokesperson, Micaela Marques de Sousa, told IRIN. In eastern Zimbabwe, in the Buhera district of Manicaland Province alone, more than 25,000 children had been vaccinated against measles.

Read more – http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88199

Hesham Gohary says he has been coming to the Health Ministry in central Cairo for weeks in the hope of getting free kidney dialysis treatment, but always leaves empty-handed.

IRIN – The 54-year-old farmer is one of 35,000 low-income kidney failure patients whose collective US$118 million health bill used to be footed by the government, until it recently declared its coffers empty.

“I badly need the dialysis,” Gohary told IRIN. “But it seems so difficult to get free treatment in this country these days.”

Around 35 million of the country’s 80 million people are in the state health insurance system, according to the Health Ministry, and most of the rest are supposed to get free health care.

Read more – http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88097

IRIN – A plan to expand the three percent AIDS levy to include those in the informal sector could have a negative impact on the lives of Zimbabweans, analysts have warned.

In July 2009, the consultants carrying out a mid-term review of the Zimbabwe 2006-2010 National HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan recommended that the low level of funding for HIV/AIDS be improved by obtaining part of the money from value added taxation (VAT), a sales tax.

“The pandemic (HIV/AIDS) affected people from all walks of life and therefore everyone should make a contribution through the Value Added Tax system, rather than rely on individuals in formal employment and the corporate sector,” the consultants’ team leader suggested.

Read more – http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=87830

IRIN – As conflict continues in Somalia, the main hospital in Mogadishu, the capital, lacks orthopedic specialists to handle the increasing number of patients with broken limbs, a doctor has said.

“Currently, the patients with the most serious injuries are mostly young; 30 of them require specialized treatment that is not available in the country,” Mohamed Yusuf, the director-general of Madina Hospital, told IRIN. “Since 2009, we have seen hundreds of patients requiring orthopedic treatment but very few of them can afford specialized treatment; 98 percent of the patients are too poor.”

Mogadishu has borne the brunt of the fighting in Somalia, which pits an opposition Islamist group against government troops. The country has been conflict-ridden since 1991 when President Siad Barre was ousted. Although a transitional government is in place, fighting continues in Mogadishu as well as in southern and central parts of the country.

Read more – http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=87827

AfDB – The African Development Bank (AfDB) will be hosting, 1-5 December 2009 in Tunis, the 4th Annual Meeting of the Harmonization for Health in Africa (HHA) initiative. What is exceptional about this year’s meeting is that it will convene a special two-day session involving Permanent Secretaries from Ministries in charge of Finance and Health from over a dozen African countries to deliberate on the Investment Case for Health Expenditures in Africa and to explore strategies to enhance coordination between these ministries.

Read more – http://www.afdb.org/en/news-events/article/the-annual-meeting-of-the-harmonization-for-health-in-africa-5419/

Only seven years now remain before the 2015 deadline by which world leaders have pledged to reduce hunger and extreme poverty by half and to make substantial gains in education, health, social equity, environmental sustainability and international solidarity. 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. 2. Achieve universal primary education. 3. Promote gender equality and empower women. 4. Reduce child mortality. 5. Improve maternal health. 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. 7. Ensure environmental sustainability. 8. Develop a global partnership for development.

Freetown (Sierra Leone) – Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma has said his country has the poorest health facilities and health service delivery in the West African sub region.

Speaking at the opening of the week-long 48th annual conference of West Africa College of Surgeons (WACS) at the Miatta Conference Centre, Mr. Koroma said the UNDP human development index ranked the country as one of those with the highest incidence of infant and maternal mortality in the world. According to available statistics, Sierra Leone can only boast of about 60 medical doctors.

President Koroma said the challenge was for his government to transform the entire health sector in the country to ensure better service delivery, adding: “My government is determined to address the poor health condition in the country because, when conditions improved, it will encourage medics to stay home and serve their people.” To demonstrate his commitment toward the improvement of the situation, the President said his government would allocate a piece of land to the college to enable it build an institution that would cater for the training of surgeons locally as well as create facilities for other sub-regional specialists.

Hundreds of medical doctors from the sub-region are attending the conference. Chairman of the conference’s Local Organizing Committee, Dr. Len Gordon Harris, described it as an annual rotational event. In his address, Sierra Leone’s Health Minister, Dr. Socco Kabia, described Sierra Leone’s health problem as “serious health service delivery constraints” and blamed the 10-year civil war for the state of the country’s health sector.

Earlier, President of the West Africa College of Surgeons, Prof. E. Alihonou, said Sierra Leoneans had been giving valuable contributions to the college since its inception. He said the college was charged with the responsibility of organising seminars, conducting examinations, researches and training programmes for its members.

Panafrican News Agency (PANA) – February 15, 2008