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Tendai Rupapa

Senior Reporter

FIRST LADY Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa’s trip to Belarus was above board as she travelled to the eastern European country at the invitation of several institutions which wanted to honour her for outstanding humanitarian works and to explore possible ways of cooperation with her Angel of Hope Foundation.

The First Lady received an honorary doctorate award from Belarusian State Medical University in recognition of her charity work.

The university also handed her a gratitude letter and award pin for her contribution to the educational activities, charity, health and environmental protection.

To date, the First Lady’s non-partisan humanitarian support programmes through her Angel of Hope Foundation, have benefited thousands of households both in the rural and urban areas.

The conferment of the doctorate degree, comes as her visit unlocked opportunities for local doctors and medical personnel who will be trained in Belarus through exchange programmes in various fields like oncology, screening for cancers of the colon, prostate, cervix, lungs and other in-patient and out-patient health programmes.

They will also have an opportunity to observe highly advanced equipment, how they are operated in order to operate the Belarusian-manufactured equipment in Zimbabwe when the plants are established in the country.

The visit also spawned vast opportunities for the country’s female farmers, female journalists and the manufacturing sector.

First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa poses for a photo with the Minister of Healthcare of the Republic of Belarus, Honourable Dmitry Pinevich and the Rector of the Belarusian State Medical University Mr Rubnikovich after she was conferred with an honorary Doctorate in recognition of her works

The meetings Dr Mnangagwa held during her tightly-packed programme during which she met the President Lukashenko, Rector of the Belarusian State Medical University Mr Rubnikov, Director of the Republican Clinical Medical Centre Dr Irina Abelskaya and the senior management in the Ministry of Healthcare and Ministry of Architecture and Construction of the Republic of Belarus were purely based on her philanthropic work.

With President Lukashenko they discussed on matters that concern the First Lady in the execution of her philanthropic and humanitarian duties that Belarus can assist with.

A mother who is passionate about improving livelihoods of vulnerable groups, the First Lady who is also the country’s health ambassador made some engagements on heath care issues including cancer treatment and prevention, maternal and child health, baby food production and processing.

As part of her efforts to improve the nutritional requirements of children, pregnant and lactating women, Dr Mnangagwa visited infant food and dairy milk manufacturing companies called Bellakt and Nesvizh.

She also toured the Dzerzhinsky Agricultural Enterprise “Agrocombinat” where she assessed the poultry production processing plant which uses a highly automated system of breeding and processing poultry products.

She invited the companies to set up plants in Zimbabwe and they have expressed willingness to set up a state of the art baby food manufacturing plant, food processing plants for milk based products and a poultry value addition chain processing plant.

The initiatives resonates well with Dr Mnangagwa’s Agric4she programme which encompasses a range of agricultural production activities. The visit was also a major learning curve for the First Lady following her meeting with Dr Irina Abelskaya where they exchanged notes and discussed possible areas of cooperation in perinatal care including infertility treatment, pre-natal screening, fetal surgery, neonatal screening technologies and early detection of cancer in the female reproductive system.

First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa and Mrs Liudmila Aleinik, (spouse to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus) lay wreaths at the Khatyn State Memorial Complex

She also had the opportunity to tour the state of the art Republican Scientific and Research Centre ‘Mother and Child’ catering for the perinatal medical care for mothers and children.

The highly effective methods of medical care will significantly reduce the perinatal and infant mortality rates, pregnancy and child birth complications, childhood disability, timely diagnosis of hereditary and congenital diseases.

Through her Angel of Hope Foundation, Amai Mnangagwa is also constructing a Mother and Child hospital in Harare.

Therefore, the First Lady’s visit to Belarus is set to contribute to the reduction in child mortality.

The mother of the nation has been leading from the front using her foundation’s mobile clinic promoting early screening, diagnosis and treatment of breast, cervical and prostate cancers.

Following the outcomes of the meetings, Amai Mnangagwa is now engaging relevant Ministries like the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services and the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development to deal with the raised issues.

In her remarks, Dr Mnangagwa said she was overwhelmed by the hospitality that had been accorded to her since arrival in that country.

“I am humbled to be a guest at the leading higher medical education institution in the Republic of Belarus. I thank you for giving me this opportunity to appreciate the finest that Belarus has to offer in terms of medical, educational excellence. I myself am a health and childcare ambassador in Zimbabwe and so I have a particular appreciation for all that you are doing here at this university,” she said.

First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa responds to questions from the press after her meeting with the President of the Republic of Belarus, His Excellency Alexandr Lukashenko, at the Palace of Independence in Minsk Belarus

The First Lady said her Angel of Hope Foundation was among institutions worthy of forming long lasting quality alliances with.

“The young people in Africa deserve to tap into the vast expanse of knowledge and experience that your leading professors have accumulated over the years. In Zimbabwe we have the University of Zimbabwe and the National University of Science and Technology (NUST), which both have faculties of medicine. These, I am sure will gladly open their doors to allow for extensive cooperation with an international partners such as yourselves.

“Furthermore, we have, in Zimbabwe, established innovation hubs at the country’s state universities have kick started Zimbabwe’s industrial modernisation agenda through the pursuit of what we call Education 5.0 which has so far seen the Government registering over 500 patents in various fields,” she said.

During her meeting with Dr Irina Abelsakaya, Dr Mnangagwa said she was looking forward to endless possibilities that exist as the countries seek areas of mutually beneficial cooperation in the medical field.

“I am aware that this medical centre is home to some of the most qualified medical practitioners in the country if not in the region. I note that you have specialists with extensive practical experience in diagnostics and the treatment of various diseases. Surely this adds immeasurable value to the healthcare system of your country. Perhaps we could discuss or explore the possibility of forming some form of partnership whereby we can open a similar medical centre in Zimbabwe,” she said.

Dr Mnangagwa said through the Angel of Hope Foundation, she had tried her best to address the needs of the vulnerable in society paying particular interest to the plight of women.

“I take note that here at this centre you provide services for women’s health, mammology and surgical mammology as well as gynaecology just to name a few. These are services that would go a long way in alleviating the plight of the vulnerable girls and women in our society in Zimbabwe,” she said.

The programme also saw the First Lady meeting the Belarusian Women’s Union and discussed a wide-range of issues and shared notes on a host of programmes that benefit womenfolk.

Women empowerment is at the heart of the First Lady hence the various programmes she carries out across Zimbabwe to uplift them and ensure they earn a dignified living and lead exemplary lives.

The First Lady, herself a champion of women empowerment, said she was glad to meet like-minded women with similar objectives.

“In this male-dominated society in which we live today, it is encouraging to know that I am not alone in my efforts to represent the most vulnerable in our society, the girl child, young women, as well as advocate their inclusion in all spheres of society. I have noticed a tendency to want to relegate women involvement to socio-economic construction only. When in actual fact, women have a bigger role to play in the mainstream economy. As the first respondents who mould the leaders of tomorrow as mothers our role in the structuring of our societies cannot be underplayed.

“Furthermore, society is fast-realising the ever-important role that women have to play in the leadership of critical political and economic institutions around the world,” she said.

As the First Lady of Zimbabwe and even prior to that, Dr Mnangagwa said she has always represented and fought for the rights of the most vulnerable in society.

She told the gathering that she founded Angel of Hope Foundation through which she has managed to spearhead philanthropic work addressing the needs of most marginalized communities and advocating for their inclusion and integration into mainstream society.

Dr Mnangagwa proceeded to shed light on some of her successes looking at women empowerment.

In response, the Belarusian Women’s Union said it was formed in 1991 to unite women organisations based on the territorial and professional principle.

The union said it was, just like Angel of Hope Foundation, actively engaged in charity and humanitarian assistance activities that mostly focus on women, families and children who are in need.

“With similar goals, activities and interests to those of the Angel of Hope Foundation under the patronage of Her Excellency the First Lady Dr A Mnangagwa, much ground for cooperation can be explored between the two organisations,” the union said.

Female media practitioners also indicated to Dr Mnangagwa that they were willing to visit Zimbabwe for exchange programmes with the Zimbabwean female journalists.

Amai Mnangagwa told senior management in the ministries of Healthcare and architecture and Construction that cooperation among institutions of Belarus and Zimbabwe would go a long way towards addressing any outstanding concerns in both countries’ healthcare systems.

Her visit to Belarus, the First Lady said, came as a response to an invitation to witness the country’s magnificent health services which afforded her an opportunity to witness world class healthcare institutions, facilities and systems.

The Belarusian milk firms which the First Lady toured, are keen to set up food processing plants for milk-based and poultry products using local resources to create employment, enhance the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and improve the health and nutrition of citizens.

Dr Mnangagwa has a huge interest in the health of the population and, through her Angel of Hope Foundation, runs a thriving feeding programme for children in disadvantaged communities to ensure they do not skip school due to food challenges.

She also promotes indigenous dishes which are rich in nutrition and medicinal properties, unlike exotic dishes which expose people to obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular challenges.

One of the companies, Bellakt, is the only Belarusian powdered milk infant formula manufacturer for age 0-6 months.

They are a world leader in infant formula production in the CIS (commonwealth of independent states and also produce dairy products and food for pregnant and lactating women.

From the care of the cow that produces the milk, to its milking, transportation and eventual processing, every stage is closely monitored. So much that, they can trace any of their products back to the cow that produced the milk for it.

They use paediatric scientists to develop all their products.

They produce milk formula for breastfeeding babies.

Dr Mnangagwa also visited Nesvizh company.

The Nesvizh plant produces high-quality dairy and fermented milk products based on the raw milk of the highest grade and class for the age range 3-18 years and the plant is almost entirely automated. They receive and process almost 500 tonnes of milk per day. Most of their products are exported to Russia and other CIS countries in the region.

She also toured the Dzerzhinsky Agricultural Enterprise “Agrocombinat” where she viewed the poultry production processing plant at the enterprise.

Using a highly automated system of breeding and processing poultry process. The process undergoes strict quality control procedures in order to maintain and adhere to international quality control standards.

All products are packaged in the production area ensuring freshness

During the tours, enterprises said they were prepared to set up a state of the art baby food manufacturing plant in Zimbabwe for the manufacture of Belarusian baby food products.

They are prepared to set up food processing plants for milk based and poultry products.

The companies expressed willingness train experts through exchange programmes whereby Zimbabwean students as well as farmers will visit Belarus to observe and learn how the plants and equipment are operated in order to operate the Belarusian-manufactured equipment in Zimbabwe when they plants have been established.

They said they were prepared to establish themselves in Zimbabwe to assist with the entire food manufacturing process value chain in Zimbabwe by supplying equipment, personnel and training

The Belarus delegation invited delegations from the relevant ministries (health and agriculture) to visit Belarus to negotiate and sign agreements for all this to be implemented.

They committed to supply Zimbabwe with bulk batches of baby milk formula manufactured in Belarus, for use in Zimbabwe as well as redistribution through the Sadc Region.

They will also focus on agricultural education in terms of the milk and poultry manufacturing processes to meet the standard upheld by their organizations.

“Zimbabwe is located in the center of the Southern African region. The countries around us could also benefit from such cooperation. Both mothers and women in our country would also welcome such cooperation. It is very important when a child’s health can be ensured from the earliest days,” said Amai Mnangagwa.