Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Mail & Guardian Online - February 7, 2007
Zim healthcare strike: As Zimbabwe's disgruntled doctors and nurses continue their strike over low salaries and poor working conditions, concern is growing about how the prolonged stayaway is affecting HIV-positive patients.
Doctors, who earn less than US$240 a month, are demanding an 8 000% increase to meet inflation, and high transport and food costs.
"It is possible that some of our members have already died as a result of the strike. I urge the government to solve this matter urgently," said Benjamin Mazhindu, national chairman of the Zimbabwe National Network for People Living with HIV. Mazhindu warned that if the strike continued, more HIV-positive people would develop side effects or become resistant to antiretroviral (ARV) medication, as any interruption in treatment can lead to the HIV becoming drug resistant, hastening progress towards Aids.
Itai Rusike of the Community Working Group of Health, a local NGO dealing with health matters in 25 districts, said people were no longer going to hospitals, and were waiting to die. "It's a disaster in the making."
Inevitably, women are bearing the brunt. Mary Sandasi, executive director of the Women and Aids Support Network, said pregnant women on ARV treatment have no access to healthcare workers, which could lead to complications in childbirth.
Few Zimbabweans can afford private healthcare as they are grappling with an unemployment level above 80% and inflation that has reached 1 281%, the highest in the world.
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