Zimbabwe: Tsitsi Masiyiwa's Efforts Raise $ 60 Million for Zimbabwe's Cholera Struggle



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By the journalist

The family foundation of Econet's founders, Strive and Tsitsi Masiyiwa, has committed an additional $ 60 million in the fight against cholera in Zimbabwe. This commitment stems from an initial investment of $ 10 million made by Econet Wireless Zimbabwe at the beginning of the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe in September 2018.

Nearly half of the initial investments have been spent to date, and the Masiyiwa are now committing to increasing them by $ 60 million from their own funds, which will be spent over the next five years.

Since the 2018 cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe, the government has made considerable efforts to contain the spread of cholera. The quick response and decisive leadership of the Ministry of Health has been a critical success factor. With the support of partners such as the World Health Organization, UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, Doctors Without Borders, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Masiyiwas' Higherlife Foundation, the 2018 epidemic has been in relative terms better controlled, the 2008 epidemic, which would have made 4,000 victims.

Nearly half of the initial US $ 10 million investment has already been used to rehabilitate an essential but dilapidated sewer infrastructure and to procure emergency supplies to manage the rainy day. epidemic. An emergency project is already underway to build a large public health emergency operations center – a "meeting room" from which the Ministry of Health and Protection of Health. The country's childhood can better monitor and respond to a range of epidemics and threats to public health security in the country.

The new funds are intended to intensify efforts already under way, as they will support the country on a long-term roadmap to eliminate water-borne diseases, focusing on finding innovative solutions to the infrastructure problem. water supply and sanitation.

"The complete rehabilitation of the water and sanitation infrastructure will take a few hundred million dollars, and we are currently working on creating investments with other partners to ensure that the water supply and sanitation infrastructure is in good hands. they join us in meeting the challenge of making the human right to safe water a reality for all Zimbabweans, "said Tsitsi Masiyiwa.

"No one should die of waterborne diseases" is the philosophy of this response to ending cholera. Ms. Masiyiwa said that it was not acceptable that in 2019 people continue to die of cholera which, if detected early, can be prevented, managed and treated.

In Zimbabwe, as in many other developing countries, cholera is often a health crisis, but it is ultimately a development problem; an underpinning of the critical challenges in municipal service delivery and the funding, maintenance and management of waste and sewage treatment facilities, as well as monitoring and response systems; Mediocre urgency.

Masiyiwas said part of the $ 60 million would be used to create innovative Public-Private Partnerships (P3s) that will lead to creative financial models that can facilitate the transition to sustainable financing for the provision of services at the municipal level.

The $ 60 million commitment of the Masiyiwas is in line with a broader cholera initiative, dubbed "End Cholera Now: The 10 Year Promise". Led by a multi-sectoral National Task Force on the Elimination of Cholera, with the support of the Higherlife Foundation, this ten-year initiative is working to put in place a reform agenda and convene a series of revolutionary strategic PPPs. with the ultimate goal of eliminating cholera in Zimbabwe in: 2030.

It is also guided by the World Health Organization's cholera road map to end cholera by 2030 and through Zimbabwe's Vision 2030 framework.

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