Health CareAdvocacy

05/07/2025

27/06/2025

MUCHIMA PRAISES CRITICAL CARE NURSES AS BACKBONE OF EMERGENCY SERVICES

Minister of Health, Dr. Elijah Muchima, has commended the role played by Critical Care Nurses in the country, describing them as the backbone of emergency medical services.

Speaking at the official opening of the 3rd Critical Care and Emergency and Trauma Nurses Conference in Ndola, Friday, Muchima stressed the importance of the section in supporting patients.

He stated that Critical Care Nurses provide care from emergency response through to rehabilitation, hence acting out their role of advocates, helpers, and caregivers, which is crucial to saving lives.

Muchima pledged that his Ministry will review the current staff establishment to reflect the growing number of specialized and highly trained critical care nurses.

He also urged nurses to continue upskilling, noting that the government is committed to ensuring quality delivery of healthcare services across the country.

Themed “Critical Care Without Walls: From Emergency Department to Rehabilitation,” the conference attracted participants from across Zambia and the region.

For more details, tune in to Byta FM 90.3/100.3/101.9 or

Listen to Byta FM Radio 90.3 from Choma live on Radio Garden

27/06/2025

We held a productive meeting with the "End Malaria Council of Zambia", led by its President, Mr. Godwin Beene. As their Patron, we received a comprehensive presentation on the Council’s challenges and strategic vision to control, and ultimately eradicate, malaria in Zambia.

Malaria remains one of the most pressing public health issues affecting our communities. It not only endangers lives but also undermines national productivity and economic growth. To address this, we must intensify public awareness efforts in close collaboration with the Ministries of Health, Information, and Education. Raising knowledge and changing attitudes at the community level is essential in the fight against this disease.

Equally important is strengthening Zambia’s capacity to manufacture essential medicines locally. Reducing reliance on unpredictable donor aid and imported drugs is critical for building long-term resilience. As Government, we are committed to promoting local pharmaceutical manufacturing through targeted policy incentives and positive discrimination in public procurement.

Malaria is a deadly but preventable disease. Government will continue to allocate more resources towards its awareness, control, and treatment, because every life saved contributes to a stronger, healthier Zambia.

Hakainde Hichilema,
President of the Republic of Zambia.

25/06/2025

A Tele-surgery performed using Robotic machine☺️

24/06/2025

😥😥😥

19/06/2025

FDA approves twice-a-year injection for HIV prevention

(CNN) A drug currently used to treat certain HIV infections has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to be used to prevent HIV.

Gilead Sciences, maker of the drug, announced that a twice-a-year injection of lenacapavir has been approved in the United States for HIV prevention under the brand name Yeztugo.

In clinical trials, the drug was found to dramatically reduce the risk of infection and provide near-total protection against HIV, significantly more than the primary options available for pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP.

Therapies called PrEP have been used to prevent HIV infections for years. In the United States, this may involve taking pills, such as a daily medication called Truvada, or getting shots, such as injections every two months of the medication Apretude.

But a twice-yearly shot of lenacapavir has now become another option in the prevention toolbox – making it the first and only such shot for HIV prevention.

“Yeztugo could be the transformative PrEP option we’ve been waiting for – offering the potential to boost PrEP uptake and persistence and adding a powerful new tool in our mission to end the HIV epidemic,” Dr. Carlos del Rio, a distinguished professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University School of Medicine and co-director of the Emory Center for AIDS Research, said in a Gilead news release.

“A twice-yearly injection could greatly address key barriers like adherence and stigma, which individuals on more frequent PrEP dosing regimens, especially daily oral PrEP, can face. We also know that, in research, many people who need or want PrEP preferred less frequent dosing.”

With any PrEP drug, “by having that medicine in your bloodstream or in your body, if you encounter HIV, it blocks it from taking hold. It arrests infection from taking hold,” said Dr. Jared Baeten, senior vice president of clinical development and the virology the

06/06/2025

This is what I think,

Here is a scenario, for most psychiatric patients, you find that they are being treated for their conditions at the hospital, but after they are allowed to go home, even when their symptoms have reduced, the people in the community will still regard them as psychiatric patients and the person ends up suffering stigma.

So I can say it's hard for a psychiatric patient to fully recover even when they go home because, their condition (eg depression) can worsen due to the stigma they face once they go back to their community.

05/06/2025

Govt in talks to export medical personnel to countries with shortages - Muchima

By Diggers Reporter

MINISTER of Health Dr Elijah Muchima has revealed government is actively engaging in talks with countries experiencing shortages of medical personnel, aiming to facilitate the export of Zambia’s healthcare professionals.
Dr Muchima has further disclosed plans to recruit 2,000 healthcare workers this year, including doctors, nurses, midwives, and laboratory technicians.
Speaking at

https://diggers.news/local/2025/06/05/govt-in-talks-to-export-medical-personnel-to-countries-with-shortages-muchima/

Read more @ Diggers.News

MINISTER of Health Dr Elijah Muchima has revealed government is actively engaging in talks with countries experiencing shortages of medical personnel, aiming to facilitate the export of Zambia’s healthcare professionals. Dr Muchima has further disclosed plans to recruit 2,000 healthcare workers th...

03/06/2025

The rate at which mental health cases are rising, is disheartening 😢😢😢

02/06/2025

I also think, this system of govt officials traveling abroad for health care services should stop, this will boost the amount of investment that is made to made health services better in our country.

02/06/2025

Okey so since , volunteering doctors have withdrawn their work to working in hospitals, do you think the remaining man power is enough??

02/06/2025

We are tired of working for free, government promised us jobs - Resident doctors

AFTER years of working long hours in scrubs without a salary, the Resident Doctors Association of Zambia (RDAZ) has had enough and as of today, they have officially withdrawn from voluntary medical services across the country.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1C3JLpDMcJ/?mibextid=oFDknk

On Friday, the resident doctors pulled down their tools and said they would no longer volunteer in hospitals effective today.

And yesterday, Health Minister Elijah Muchima declared that government would still not employ resident doctors because it had no money.

Frustrated by what they describe as government’s continued indifference and empty promises, the association declared that it will no longer allow its members to offer their professional services for free.

RDAZ President Paul Chibwe said the decision was not a threat but a firm refusal to be taken for granted any longer.

“From the beginning, we were never in support of indefinite voluntary work,” said Dr Chibwe.

“It’s unfair to expect young doctors to work tirelessly from 08:00 to 20:00, risking exposure to diseases, with no pay, no timeline, no roadmap. We have families, we have bills and some of us even have dependents,” lamented Dr Chibwe on Diamond TV.

Dr Chibwe said it was disheartening that government continued to treat volunteering as a sustainable solution to the staffing crisis in health facilities.

He revealed that three quarters of Zambia’s health facilities are currently being run by resident doctors who are not on payroll and these are doctors who have sacrificed their private ambitions to serve the public.

“These hospitals may not even realise how few we are, because we work like full time employees. We are not just filling a gap, we are the ones keeping the health system running,” he said.

According to RDAZ, despite earlier engagements with former Health Minister Sylvia Masebo, which included a promise of recruitment a

We are tired of working for free, government promised us jobs - Resident doctors

AFTER years of working long hours in scrubs without a salary, the Resident Doctors Association of Zambia (RDAZ) has had enough and as of today, they have officially withdrawn from voluntary medical services across the country.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1C3JLpDMcJ/?mibextid=oFDknk

On Friday, the resident doctors pulled down their tools and said they would no longer volunteer in hospitals effective today.

And yesterday, Health Minister Elijah Muchima declared that government would still not employ resident doctors because it had no money.

Frustrated by what they describe as government’s continued indifference and empty promises, the association declared that it will no longer allow its members to offer their professional services for free.

RDAZ President Paul Chibwe said the decision was not a threat but a firm refusal to be taken for granted any longer.

“From the beginning, we were never in support of indefinite voluntary work,” said Dr Chibwe.

“It’s unfair to expect young doctors to work tirelessly from 08:00 to 20:00, risking exposure to diseases, with no pay, no timeline, no roadmap. We have families, we have bills and some of us even have dependents,” lamented Dr Chibwe on Diamond TV.

Dr Chibwe said it was disheartening that government continued to treat volunteering as a sustainable solution to the staffing crisis in health facilities.

He revealed that three quarters of Zambia’s health facilities are currently being run by resident doctors who are not on payroll and these are doctors who have sacrificed their private ambitions to serve the public.

“These hospitals may not even realise how few we are, because we work like full time employees. We are not just filling a gap, we are the ones keeping the health system running,” he said.

According to RDAZ, despite earlier engagements with former Health Minister Sylvia Masebo, which included a promise of recruitment and a specific figure of doctors to be absorbed, government has since backtracked, now claiming that it simply has no money to hire more doctors.

As of today, hospitals that have leaned heavily on resident doctors are expected to experience a sudden strain, with many bracing for delays in service delivery.

By Catherine P**e

Kalemba, June 2, 2025