A deadly concoction

Photo credit: CNS: citizen-news.org

Paidamoyo Chipunza, CNS Correspondent
(first published in The Herald, Zimbabwe)
“HIV destroys the immune system. When this happens, the capsule containing the TB germs weakens and breaks. The germs spill out and multiply. The person becomes sick with tuberculosis, transmitting the germs to others through a tell tale cough,” were the words of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, himself a TB survivor, sometime in 2012. However, health experts say diabetes has the same effect on the immune system like HIV.

Create smoke-free zones, Government urged

Paidamoyo Chipunza, Zimbabwe 
(First published in The Herald, Zimbabwe on 8 August 2013): GOVERNMENT has been urged to create 100 percent smoke-free environments to help reduce the risk of contracting cancer. The calls come amid chilling revelations that more than 4 000 chemicals are found in tobacco smoke, from which at least 250 are known to be harmful and more than 50 known to cause cancer. Ministry of Health and Child Welfare deputy director for the department of mental health and drug abuse Mrs Dorcas Sithole said while current laws forbid anyone to smoke in public spaces such as in buses, commuter omnibuses, airlines, halls, schools and public offices, people still do so.

Call for better asthma treatment option

 Paidamoyo Chipunza, Zimbabwe
(First published in The Herald Online, Zimbabwe on 9th May 2013): AN international organisation is calling for a range of effective asthma treatment to better manage the condition as the world commemorates World Asthma Day. World Asthma Day is commemorated every year on May 7. This year's commemorations are running under the theme: You can Control Your Asthma. Pharmacist and coordinator of the Asthma and Drug Facility with the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease Mr Christophe Perrin said effective management of asthma requires two major drugs namely  bronchodilators and inhaled corticosteroids.

Time to act now on MDR-TB

Paidamoyo Chipunza, Zimbabwe
(First published in The Herald, Zimbabwe on 26th March 2013): After two grueling years of treatment, Chipo Mhlanga, 48 (not her real name) is one of the first patients in Zimbabwe to be successfully treated of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Speaking from her home in Epworth, Ms Mhlanga said she first showed symptoms of TB in 2006 after caring for four members of her family who had the disease. She said after eight months of treatment, and without screening her to confirm whether the treatment had been successful, she was taken off TB medication by her doctor who declared she was “looking much better.”