Zimbabwe – a country in crisis

Zimbabwe has been hit by drought, HIV/AIDS and an economic meltdown that have contributed to a humanitarian disaster. Late in 2008, a cholera epidemic exacerbated the desperate plight of the people of Zimbabwe.

• 45 per cent of the population suffers from malnourishment
• almost 600,000 people are homeless
• 83 per cent of people live on less than $2 a day
• life expectancy is the lowest in the world, 36 years, down from 60 years in 1990
• inflation is no longer being calculated
• 1.3 million people are living with HIV/AIDS
• the country suffers shortages of food, medicine, water, power and fuel
  

In the context of this worsening crisis, Howard Hospital continues to provide quality care to the poverty-stricken population of 35 surrounding villages.

Howard Hospital

Founded in 1923, Howard Hospital is a Salvation Army facility situated in the Chiweshe communal land of rural Zimbabwe. Eighty kilometres north of the capital of Harare, the hospital is the referral centre for the Mazowe district of Mashonaland Central Province and has a catchment of greater than 270,000 people.

A variety of medical and social services are provided for all ages, from the newborn to the elderly and terminally ill. There is an operating theatre, pharmacy, laboratory, and facilities for x-ray, ultrasound and rehabilitation. The in-patient and out-patient departments receive 115,000 patients a year. Eighty percent of patients are women and children, from obstetrics services, the under-5 clinic, and HIV treatment and care. Two thirds of HIV/AIDS services are provided to women.

The hospital provides the following services to the community :

• comprehensive primary, medical and surgical care
• counselling services
• HIV/AIDS and TB treatment center
• nutritional supplementation
• agricultural assistance and education
• child sponsorship
• community education programs.

HPIC and Howard Hospital

With the current economic and political climate in Zimbabwe, it is increasingly difficult for Howard Hospital to procure the medicine and supplies it needs to provide health care services to the community it serves. According to Dr. Paul Thistle, chief medical officer, many pharmaceutical companies have left Zimbabwe so most medical supplies must now be imported at costs unaffordable to the hospital and its impoverished clientele.

HPIC provides large quantities of needed medicines and surgical supplies free of charge to Howard Hospital through a variety of channels. An increasing number of doctors are responding to Dr. Thistle’s call for help, and giving their time to support the provision of essential health services at Howard Hospital. When volunteers travel to Zimbabwe from Canada, they carry with them the most urgently needed medicines and supplies, requested of HPIC by Dr. Thistle.

HPIC has also delivered large quantities of medical aid to Howard Hospital in container shipments, in collaboration with several individuals and Canadian NGOs. In June 2008, representatives of several healthcare companies met with Dr. Paul Thistle at the HPIC Distribution Centre for the send-off of a 40’ container with more than $3 million of medicines and medical supplies destined for Howard Hospital. Dr. Thistle was able to thank the companies personally for their generosity. (See news release)

In late 2008 and early 2009, HPIC provided emergency medical relief to Zimbabwe in response to the cholera outbreak. Antibiotics and oral rehydration solution as well as medical supplies were provided to more than a dozen health centres around the country, including Howard Hospital.

In total, in response to the desperate need in Zimbabwe and thanks to the generosity of Canadian healthcare companies, HPIC provided medicine and supplies worth more than $4 million to Howard Hospital in 2008.

The objectives of HPIC’s intervention are:

• to increase the cure rate of communicable diseases such as pneumonia
• to improve treatment and support of people living with HIV/AIDS
• to successfully treat malnourished children by providing vitamins and medicines for treatment of acute infections.

Howard Hospital’s holistic approach to health care enables men, women and children to be restored as productive members of their community.

With the ongoing provision of medical aid through HPIC, caring Canadians are offering hope to these people suffering in an increasingly desperate situation.