Munyaradzi Doma
The Harare City Council has secured US$100 000 from the Bloomberg Foundation for a population-based survey on the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) which are on the increase in the city.
The project will be carried out from January to December next year and funds permitting, a further US$50 000 will be extended.
Zimbabwe does not have statistical data at city and national level on NCDs.
NCDs are diseases which cannot be transferred from one person to another including strokes, heart diseases, some cancers and chronic kidney ailments among others.
Harare Mayor Hebert Gomba told The Anchor that the fund will go a long way in assisting the city help residents.
“We are grateful they will partner with us. We are also happy we have managed to unlock such funding and hopefully our people will benefit from this and other such programmes,” he said.
Minutes from the education, health, housing and community services committee meeting revealed that the survey will be carried out by a consultant working with the city’s health department.
“There was no data on NCDs in the city and at national level. The country did not know the magnitude of the burden of NCDs and that was making it very difficult to come up with matching intervention programs that would address the challenges adequately.
“Therefore, it was imperative for the city to carry out a survey that would give a picture of the extent of the problem and come up with informed intervention recommendations,” read the minutes.”
Director of health services Prosper Chonzi recently reported to council that NCDs had been on the increase leading to rising national mortality and morbidity rate.
The Bloomberg Foundation is a brainchild of former New York City mayor and provides funding to “mayors to be agents of change and improve health outcomes world-wide.”
To date, the foundation has supported more than 60 cities world-wide.
