Zim women prostituting in Zambia worry their minister

Zim women prostituting in Zambia worry their minister
By Abigail Chaponda
Sunday April 27, 2008 [04:00]

IT is painful to see our women prostituting in Zambia to earn a living, Zimbabwean health minister Dr David Parirenyatwa has said. In an interview in Lusaka during the week, Dr Parirenyatwa hoped that Zambians would appreciate the sanctions’ effects against Zimbabwe instead of looking down on the women because they did not like what they were doing.

“We are concerned about our women, it is painful to see that they have resorted to prostitution for them to earn a living. But this does not mean that we are not doing anything, things will change when the sanctions are lifted,” he said.

Dr Parirenyatwa said he was afraid that the levels of HIV/AIDS would increase because some women had turned to prostitution because of the difficulties that Zimbabwe is facing.

He said the health sector in Zimbabwe had suffered a great deal because many health workers had left the country to work elsewhere and it was not easy to get good medicine for patients.

“A lot of health workers have run away from Zimbabwe and gone to work abroad because of the current situation. And in order to retain the little health workers we are left with, we have given them cars and we are considering increasing their salaries,” Dr Parirenyatwa said.

He said despite losing health workers, Zimbabwe was working hard to guard against malnutrition.

“We are concerned about the food security in the country because we experienced a lot of drought this year. As Minister of Health, I am faced with a challenge to look after children and should this situation continue, the levels of malnutrition will increase,” he said.

Dr Parirenyatwa was hopeful that Zimbabwe would start enjoying the peace that they once had and that the health sector would offer better health conditions again.

Meanwhile, the SADC ministerial sub-committee on African Traditional Medicines (ATM) has urged member states to introduce and increase budget allocation for African medicine.

Presenting a report on the ATM to the SADC health ministers’ meeting on Wednesday, Lesotho health minister Dr Mphu Ramatlapenga said China was willing to support SADC in research and the development of anti-malaria drugs using tradition medicine.
“China has emphasised that rolling back malaria is their goal and that they will make the greatest effort to assist SADC in the fight against the disease,” Dr Ramatlapenga said. She said China had been using traditional medicine for both prevention and treatment of malaria.

“Traditional medicine in China is reported to have shown some benefits in the treatment of toxic effects of Antiretroviral (ARVs) drugs and anti-cancer agents in the improvement of life and immunity,” she said

Dr Ramatlapenga said if traditional medicines were working well in China, it would be good for SADC to work with the Chinese government to help control and eradicate malaria in the region.

She said China had come up with a new traditional medicine Artemisia annua (ACT), a combination therapy that would help to control malaria.

“This traditional medicine has worked well in China and the Chinese are ready to work with SADC. We are also considering planting Artemisia annua (ACTs) in the region and China is ready to assist in the research, developing and local manufacturing of ACTs,” she said.

Dr Ramatlapenga said SADC should prioritise advocacy for good agriculture practice in the production of Artemisia annua including other plants of medicinal value.