Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr David Parirenyatwa was recently elected Chairperson of the World Health Assembly (WHA) at the 67th Regional Committee Meeting held in Victoria Falls last week.
In an interview with 263Chat, Parirenyatwa said his election is a good step for the country and the Southern African Development Community as it allows him to highlight issues that affect Zimbabwe and the rest of the continent.
“I am honored to be Chairperson of the Ministers of Health in Africa and to be Chairperson of the World Health Assembly,
“It is also a good step for Zimbabwe and Southern African Development Community (SADC) to highlight key issues that touch Africa,” said Parirenyatwa.
He added that the just ended conference looked at various issues affecting the health sector regionally particularly diseases and road accidents.
“At the regional committee meeting we particularly spoke about the epidemic of yellow fever that is in some countries and all borders should be alerted, that is why we are asking for vaccinations,
“We also looked at Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) we noticed that they are high among our teenagers, not only in Zimbabwe but across the continent,
“Of concern also are cross border issues like malaria and this is a global issue and Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) like cancer,” added Parirenyatwa.
Parirenyatwa also noted that road traffic accidents are on the rise regionally adding that in Zimbabwe’s poor state of roads and ill equipped trauma centres were responsible for high death rate due to accidents.
“70% of the road accidents that occur are due to drinking and driving as people tend to over speed or ignore road instructions. In Zimbabwe lives are also lost when accidents happen because of the poor roads and ambulances and trauma centers that are not well equipped,” said Parirenyatwa.
Meanwhile Zimbabwe has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with South Africa with the latter committing to take on board doctors and nurses for work.
“We have signed an MOU with South Africa and for doctors and nurses to work in South Africa now they have to go through the ministry and South Africa has Stuck to that strongly,” alluded Parirenyatwa.
