In the capital, Harare, we run a project providing comprehensive youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, through our clinic in Mbare. Our team is also working to improve adolescent SRH in Epworth in a non-medical setting, working with peer educators. Peer educators are adolescents who are trained to facilitate access to SRH services in communities by raising awareness on the services we offer.
When a measles outbreak hit the country in 2022, MSF supported the national response, targeting the most affected districts in Manicaland province. Our teams provided vaccinations, as well as care to patients, contact tracing and training. Through health promotion services, we increased community awareness and improved vaccine uptake.
In Beitbridge and Plumtree, we continue to offer medical assistance to vulnerable migrants, asylum seekers, deportees and local communities. In 2022, we constructed a wellness centre in Tongogara refugee camp, which the community has named Baobab House. The centre runs mental health services, including individual support, stress management sessions and recreational activities, to help people dealing with stress and trauma.
In December, we closed our environmental health project in Harare, which implemented activities to strengthen communities’ capacity to prevent and respond to disease outbreaks. These included drilling, rehabilitating and sealing boreholes to improve access to safe water, and setting up community-led solid waste, biowaste and wastewater recycling projects in the city, which also contribute to mitigating the effects of climate change.