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Manicaland Correspondent
THE Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC) in conjunction with the Ministry of Health and Child Care has started offering psycho-social support to people affected by Cyclone Idai in Ngangu, Chimanimani.

ZNFPC provincial marketing and communications officer Mr Daniel Maromo said they had health facilitators working in Chimanimani giving psycho-social support to the cyclone survivors.

“We are offering psycho-social support to the survivors since Cyclone Idai was a traumatic event and these people need counselling services,” he said.

“At Ngorima, we have a health facilitator working in collaboration with Ministry of Health staff.”

Mr Maromo said ZNFPC had scaled up its services to support Cyclone Idai survivors to access family planning and contraceptives in Chimanimani and Chipinge.

Mr Maromo said the quality and uptake of modern contraceptives in cyclone-hit areas has been compromised because of the tropical cyclone.

“The uptake of contraceptives in cyclone-hit areas has been compromised and we have since scaled up our services to make sure that everyone has access to contraceptives and condoms,” he said.

“We are covering all the affected areas, including Ngangu and Ngorima, giving them free contraceptives and condoms. Some of our staff are operating at a school in Ngorima and community-based distributors are also distributing contraceptives and condoms at household level.

“We understand that during the cyclone, some contraceptives were washed away, others buried in mud and some of health centres were destroyed. Anyone who is in need of contraceptives should receive them and no woman should have an unwanted pregnancy or having sexually transmitted infections because they failed to get contraceptives.”

Meanwhile, an Italian non-governmental organisation on Tuesday donated a consignment of kitchen utensils and foodstuffs to victims of Cyclone Idai, writes Ellen Chasokela.

Buckets, cutlery

Stand-up For Life Onlus representative Mrs Michela Gabrie’ Sanquest said they felt humbled and obliged to participate in relief efforts towardsCyclone Idai as they have worked with other African countries before.

“We bought some implements for the kitchen and a few foodstuffs because we heard that they have a lot of clothes and food, so we thought of something different. We bought rice, mealie-meal, buckets, cutlery, plates and cups,” she said.

Speaking at the handover ceremony, Ministry of LOcal Government, Public Works and National Housing principal director Ms Erica Jones expressed gratitude towards the organisation.

“Your willingness to assist in this time of need will make a huge impact to the lives of our dear family and friends in affected areas.

“It is really donations like these that really touch the hearts of the people of Zimbabwe. The people have already lost everything because households were affected and everything was washed away. Your donation is really practical. It is one of the important things that are needed after a disaster hits because it helps them get their lives back  again.

“I want to assure you that these donations will go to the actual people in real trouble. The system that we use is that we will receipt donations, acknowledge and they go straight to Manyame Airbase where our logistical headquarters are located and will be ferried to Chimanimani,” she said.