The family foundation of Econet
founders Strive and Tsitsi Masiyiwa has committed an additional US$60 million
towards the cholera response in Zimbabwe. The commitment comes on the back of
an initial $10 million investment by Econet Wireless Zimbabwe at the onset of
the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe in September 2018.
Nearly half of the initial investment
has been spent to date, and the Masiyiwas are now committing to expand the
investment by $60 million of their own funds, to be spent over the next 5
years.
Since the 2018 cholera outbreak in
Zimbabwe, the Government has led a massive effort to contain the spread of
cholera. The swift response and decisive leadership of the Health Ministry was
a critical success factor. Through the support of partners such as the World
Health Organization, UNICEF, Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without
Borders), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Masiyiwas’ Higherlife
Foundation, the 2018 outbreak was, in relative terms, more effectively
contained, compared to a 2008 outbreak, which reportedly claimed 4 000 lives.
Of the initial US$10 million
investment, close to half has already been put to use to rehabilitate critical
but dilapidated sewer infrastructure and to procure emergency supplies to
manage the outbreak. An emergency project is already underway to build a large
public health emergency operations centre – a ‘situation room’ from which the
country’s Ministry of Health and Childcare can better monitor and respond to a
range of disease outbreaks and public health security threats around the
country.
The new funds are intended to scale up
efforts already underway as they will support the country on a long-term
roadmap to eliminate water-borne diseases, focusing on catalyzing innovative
solutions to the water and sanitation infrastructure problem.
“Rehabilitating water and sanitation
infrastructure comprehensively will call for a heavy lift, requiring a few
hundred million dollars. We are working to make the investment case with other
partners, for them to join us in this challenge to make the basic right to
clean water a reality for all Zimbabweans,” said Mrs Tsitsi Masiyiwa.
‘No one Should die of Water Borne
Diseases’ is the ethos for this response to end cholera. Mrs Masiyiwa said was
not acceptable that in 2019 people should still lose their lives to cholera
which, if detected early, can be prevented, managed and treated.
In Zimbabwe, as in many other
developing countries, cholera often manifests as a health crisis, but it is
ultimately a development problem; an underlying indication of critical
challenges in municipal service delivery and financing, maintenance and management
of waste and sewer treatment facilities, as well as poor emergency surveillance
and response systems.
The Masiyiwas said part of the $60
million would be channeled towards catalyzing innovative public private
partnerships (PPPs) that will lead to creative financial models that can
support transitions to sustainable financing of service provision at the
municipal level.
The Masiyiwas’ $60 million commitment
supports a wider cholera initiative, dubbed ‘End Cholera Now: The 10 year
promise’. Spearheaded by a multi-sector National Taskforce on Cholera
Elimination, with support from Higherlife Foundation, the 10-year initiative is
working to establish a reform agenda and convening a range of game-changing
strategic PPPs with the ultimate goal of eliminating cholera in Zimbabwe by
2030.
It is also guided by the World Health
Organization’s Global Cholera Roadmap for Ending Cholera by 2030 and the
Zimbabwe’s Vision 2030 Framework.