As Celebration Health, we have three main areas that we are focusing on in our contribution to the alleviation of the current health care crisis. These are:

1. Urgent Medical Relief
2. Medical Worker Deployment
3. Infrastructure Support

   Medical Supplies

The procurement of medical supplies has been one of our highest priorities, primarily because the hospitals and clinics have none themselves. Everything is needed, right down to basics such as soap and surgical spirits. To this end, we have managed to mobilize resources that have seen one container after another loaded with medical supplies being shipped to us for distribution to the various medical centres, and particularly the cholera camps at 
Beatrice Road and in Budiriro.

We have a tremendous need for drugs in Zimbabwe at the moment, apart from supplies to treat and control cholera. If you wish to help us in this area, send us an e-mail on …. And we will let you have a list of drugs that are registered in Zimbabwe that you can help us with. We are also raising support to replace key components of health institutions such as sterilization plants, blood transfusion reagents, generators, and so on.

Health workers and service teams

Another area that required urgent attention was the recalling of striking staff and deployment into needed areas. Our desire was to assist with daily living costs of Harare city health staff working at the cholera camps and to see them adequately compensated for their gruelling work, especially under such difficult conditions.

Thanks to an extremely generous donation, we have now secured funds for all City of Harare health workers, especially those at the main cholera camps (doctors, nurses and support staff) for the next six months in cash (USD), as well as transportation and meals, which, together, have provided the well-deserved and much needed boost for them to come back to work and tackle the cholera crisis.

We have put together three teams that are on the ground partnering with city health personnel in Harare. The teams comprise doctors, nurses, pharmacists, support staff as well as volunteers drawn from Celebration churches in the various communities.

Command Centre

The offices at 190 Samora Machel Ave, Harare are shaping up and the volume of work that is being done is astounding, given the donations that are coming in fast and furiously. The sheer pace at which things are moving is frenetic, and the momentum continues to build as more and more people come on board. Well-wishers have donated some office equipment to help us to furnish and set up the premises.

Education & Awareness

It is also part of our mission at this time to provide reliable and relevant health education to our communities.

We have launched a television programme as part of the public education and awareness campaign of Celebration Health. This airs on ZTV at approximately 1900hrs local time on Sunday evenings. We will be continuing these efforts and extending them to education blitzes in the worst affected areas, where we have already been distributing informative flyers and leaflets about how to prevent and treat cholera.

Donations to this initiative have been incredible, and the generosity of people has been humbling.

We have had an overwhelming response to our appeals for help from non-aligned international organizations, from students based both locally and internationally, as well as individuals and corporates who have given in cash, in kind and in person by literally lending a hand. Many have made their pledges and committed themselves to helping either in a continuous and regular manner or with a lump sum as a once-off gift or donation. We have had many people coming forward to help, most of whom are already in full time employment but are willing to give up some of their free time to help us, or to come in with their expertise in different fields.

It is so encouraging to see how Zimbabweans, in spite of the numerous challenges they are facing, have been able to rise to the occasion and have truly begun to take ownership of this situation and make the state of the health delivery system their personal and collective responsibility.

Nothing that we are doing is possible without your continued involvement and generous giving.

The need is indeed great, but the potential to help and to make a difference, is even greater.

Remember:

o      It is not cholera that kills you, it’s the dehydration. So make sure that as soon as you suspect that you or someone else has cholera, you start taking or giving the salt-sugar solution recommended by the Ministry of Health, made up as follows:

            Salt & sugar solution recipe

o      High standards of hygiene will prevent cholera from camping on your doorstep – be paranoid about cleanliness if need be, especially when it comes to younger children and babies who are extremely susceptible to such diseases and can dehydrate quickly.