Creating environments to support participation of people with disabilities in public service delivery

The participation of people with disabilities in WASH processes is central to disability inclusive WASH programming. Creating an enabling environment for people with disabilities to claim their rights is key to meaningful participation in community processes and public service delivery. There are few published accounts of the contribution that WASH projects can make to institutionalising disability inclusion in local public service governance and delivery. This paper provides an overview of the key assessment and implementation activities and preliminary outcomes of an urban/peri-urban WASH project in Zimbabwe which is seeking to contribute sustainable improvements in the lives of people with disabilities through enabling citizen action. Constraints in this context are discussed and lessons for WASH actors seeking to achieve inclusive WASH are presented

Using Participatory Design to Develop a Menstrual Hygiene Management Intervention: Designing WASH UP! Girl Talk in Zimbabwe

Globally, as more girls transition from primary to secondary education, there is a new generation of girls who will have to manage their menses in school environments. Few schools are designed with girls’ menstrual hygiene management (MHM) needs in mind and many girls begin menstruating without knowing what is happening to them. This lack of knowledge about menstruation is associated with profound psychological and reproductive health issues. As such, school-based WASH interventions, especially those focused on MHM, can improve educational opportunities, promote lifelong health, and enhance the wellbeing of children and their families. In Zimbabwe, these global realities hold true, where menstruation is a taboo subject and girls find it difficult to access accurate information and are unable to manage their menstruation safely, hygienically, and with dignity and privacy. An effective solution to these challenges must address school infrastructure concerns and limitations in knowledge, attitudes, and practices around MHM. In response, Sesame Workshop, in collaboration with World Vision, launched WASH UP! Girl Talk in Zimbabwe, targeting students 10-14 years old. Girl Talk involved the development and implementation of an intervention aimed at improving students’ knowledge and practice of healthy hygiene behaviors. Girl Talk also focused on increasing girls’ confidence in their personal MHM. This article highlights the development of Girl Talk and its focus on participatory design to standardize a curriculum framework, implementation process, and research approach to contextualize education content. This process of program design, grounded in the intersections of best practices and local knowledge, provides both a conceptual and practical framework to inform future MHM interventions

A systematic approach for reviewing research capacity within Zimbabwe’s national blood service

Background Blood services need to undertake research to improve their strategic goals, operational effectiveness and promote evidence-based policies. NBSZ has along history of active research and undertook a systematic review of its research capacity to guide its new research strategy. In the absence of a published approach for research capacity assessment for national blood services, a frame-work to assess research capacity in African universities was used. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 85 NBSZ internal and external stakeholders. The interview topics were based on eight areas covered by the framework used to assess universities’ research systems. Information was ver-ified through triangulation, and recommended actions emerging from the review were validated at a national stakeholder workshop. The appropriateness of the framework for use in the setting of blood services was also evaluated. Results Synthesis of information from the multi perspective interviews high-lighted key areas of NBSZ’s research capacity for improvement, in particular better dissemination of NBSZ’s research priorities and closer ties with academics and their institutions for preparing research proposals and jointly undertaking research projects. With minor adaptations, the framework was found to be applicable to NBSZ, and no aspects of research capacity were identified which were not covered by the framework. Discussion Our results indicate that it is feasible and useful to apply a structured process to review the research capacity of blood services. However, the frame-work needs to be tested in blood services and other non-university setting to assess its usefulness and transferability

Within-Gender Changes in HIV Prevalence among Adults between 2005/6 and 2010/11 in Zimbabwe

INTRODUCTION: Zimbabwe has reported significant declines in HIV prevalence between 2005/06 and 2010/11 Demography and Health Surveys; a within-gender analysis to identify the magnitude and factors associated with this change, which can be masked, is critical for targeting interventions. METHODS: We analyzed change in HIV prevalence for 6,947 women and 5,848 men in the 2005/06 survey and 7,313 women and 6,250 men in 2010/11 surveys using 2005/06 as referent. The data was analyzed taking into consideration the survey design and therefore the svy, mean command in Stata was used in both linear and logistic regression. RESULTS: There were similar proportional declines in prevalence at national level for males (15% p=0.011) and females (16%,p=0.008). However, there were variations in decline by provincial setting, demographic variables of age, educational level and some sexual risk behaviours. In logistic regression analysis, statistically significant declines were observed among men in Manicaland, Mashonaland East and Harare (p<0.01) and for women in Manicaland, Mashonaland Central and Harare (p<0.01). Although not statistically significant, numerical increases were observed among men in Matebeleland North, Matebeleland South, Midlands and for both men and women in Bulawayo. Young women in the age range 15-34 experienced a decline in prevalence (p<0.01) while older men 30-44 had a statistically significant decline (p<0.01). Having a secondary and above education, regardless of employment status for both men and women recorded a significant decline. For sexual risk behaviours, currently in union for men and women and not in union for women there was a significant decline in prevalence. CONCLUSION: Zimbabwe has reported a significant decline among both men and women but there are important differentials across provinces, demographic characteristics and sexual risk behaviours that suggest that the epidemic in Zimbabwe is heterogeneous and therefore interventions must be targeted in order to achieve epidemic control

Different views of distance education and how these views affect distance teaching and open learning within the Zimbabwe Open University

The study investigated stakeholders' views of distance education and their implications on distance teaching and open learning at Zimbabwe Open University. The study used a descriptive survey design and questionnaire instrument. The population of the study was 14700 students, 200 administrative staff and 850 lecturers. A sample of 258 students, 13 administrative staff and 41 lecturers was selected using convinient sampling technique. These were stakeholders who visited ZOU centres and volunteered to complete the questionnaire between May and June 2001. The study used Statistical Package for Social Sciences to produce frequency distribution tables and Chi-square statistical tool to test whether there were significant differences among stakeholders' views of distance education. The study found out that stakeholders had different views of distance education, and that these views negatively impacted on distance teaching and open learning. Zimbabwe Open University should induct all stakeholders on distance education, its operations, and their roles.Zimbabwe Journal of Educational Research Vol. 16(3) November 2004: pp. 241-26

Incidence of Haemolytic Disease of the Newborn in Harare, Zimbabwe

Background: Haemolytic Disease of Newborn is responsible for a number of neonatal deaths and complications worldwide. Its incidence in Zimbabwe is not clearly understood. Objective: To find out incidence of Haemolytic Disease of Newborn in Harare and ability to identify antibodies associated with HDN. Methods: A retrospective cross sectional study at the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals and National Blood Service, Zimbabwe (NBSZ). We studied 22493 infants at Parirenyatwa Hospital during the 1995-1997 and 2002-2003 periods. The main outcome measures were ABO and Rh blood group results, Direct Antiglobulin Test and Maternal Antibody Screening and Identification Results were obtained from the NBSZ. Results: One hundred and ninety-one (0,85%) infants had Haemolytic Disease of Newborn. One hundred and sixty-three (85.34 %) of these were due to anti-AB, twenty five (13.09%) were due to anti-D and three (1.57%) due to anti-Kell. Incidence of Haemolytic Disease of Newborn during 1995-1997 and 2002-2003, were 0.93% and 0.64 %, respectively (p = 0.014). ABO Haemolytic Disease of Newborn showed a statistically significant difference during the two periods (p=0.003). Rhesus Haemolytic Disease of Newborn showed no statistically significant difference during same periods (p=0.317). Conclusion: The incidence of Haemolytic Disease of Newborn at Parirenyatwa Hospital is comparable with that found in other countries. It is recommended that K antigen be included in the pretransfusion testing to avoid anti-K related Haemolytic Disease of Newborn.Articl