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Zim to access cheap chemotherapy drugs

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ZIMBABWE will soon benefit from cheap chemotherapy drugs sourced from reputable pharmaceutical companies, permanent secretary for the Health and Child Care ministry Gerald Gwinji has said.

ZIMBABWE will soon benefit from cheap chemotherapy drugs sourced from reputable pharmaceutical companies, permanent secretary for the Health and Child Care ministry Gerald Gwinji has said.

BY MUNESU NYAKUDYA

He said this yesterday in Harare at the official opening of a training course on establishing clinical guidelines for use in radiography.

Gwinji said the cheap medicines would come after Zimbabwe was invited to be part of the countries involved in the development and adaptation of National Comprehensive Cancer Network — African Guidelines

“Recently Zimbabwe was invited to be part of six African nations that are involved in the development and adaptation of National Comprehensive Cancer Network — African Guidelines,” Gwinji said.

“This will result in our country benefiting from the reduced price of chemotherapy drugs sourced from reputable pharmaceutical companies. We acknowledge the Clinton Health Access initiative for their invaluable contribution towards this endeavour.”

Gwinji said the course was coming at an opportune time where Zimbabwe as a nation was on a drive to develop national guidelines to encompass all aspects of the management of cancer as part of its National Cancer Strategy.

He said Zimbabwe had invested a lot in the acquisition of life-saving radiography equipment, and it was pleasing to note that health professionals in the field were endeavouring to optimise the use of this equipment for the benefit of patients.

“Taking cognisance of the fact that radiography is not used as the sole modality of cancer treatment, we also have committed funds from the Aids Levy to help in the procurement of a wide range of drugs as well,” Gwinji said.

“The country has been making steady improvements on manpower development in radiography through training programmes.”

Cervical cancer is the leading cancer among Zimbabweans, followed by prostate cancer, breast cancer and Kaposi’s sarcoma (skin cancer).