Zimbabwe has three Cellular network providers that provide service all over the country. Of these three Econet is the largest outstripping the other two in subscriber base and profits. At the end of the last financial year Econet Wireless Zimbabwe declared an income higher than the government.

There is no doubt that Econet is a prime example of what hard work, determination and a little faith are able to achieve. Considering the odds that were stacked against the company at its inception, Econet provides hope for all future Zimbabwean entrepreneurs with a big idea.

But Econet may also be used to illustrate the effect of big business on little people. As the market leader Econet sets the trend for the Cellular network provider services industry. The Econet brand has been positioned as one that stands for progressiveness, integrity and one that is oriented towards satisfying customer needs. Econet Wireless Zimbabwe fails to meet its own values.

It is difficult to see the integrity in a company that must be asked to revise its tariffs downward after charging much more than companies in the rest of the region. Service delivery has progressively deteriorated as more subscribers are added to Econet’s books. A few months ago, Econet placed full-page ads in the national newspapers, thanking customers for making them number one in terms of subscriber base. This gratitude did not translate to any tangible value for customers. Neither was there an explanation for such bad service delivery.

Most recently, the company has rolled out a plan to increase coverage with its much-touted ’90 base stations in 90 days’ campaign. Yet the more pressing issue of network expansion is glibly dismissed as being in Econet’s ‘future plans’. This may be Africa, but we are not stupid.

Econet’s major competitors would be wise to take advantage of, and not make the same mistakes. Even the most faithful brand loyalist will migrate to a company that delivers the service that is promised.

This statement from Amnesty International summarises a number of the challenges facing the Constitutional Parliamentary Select Committee (COPAC) outreach process which began last week.

Restrictions of fundamental freedoms undermining credibility of constitution making process

Arbitrary arrest and detention as well as violence against human rights and political activists risk undermining the credibility of Zimbabwe’s just started constitution making process, led by the Constitutional Parliamentary Select Committee (COPAC).

All parties in the unity government should respect and protect the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly and ensure that everybody has unfettered access to COPAC outreach meetings. Amnesty International also urges Zimbabwe’s security agents to strictly observe Article XIII of the Global Political Agreement which requires state organs and institutions to be impartial in the discharge of their duties.

Amnesty International’s calls follow reports of arbitrary arrest and detention, and beatings of civil society monitors working under the Independent Constitution Monitoring Project, which is jointly run by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, Zimbabwe Peace Project and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.

On Sunday 27 June, three civil society monitors, Paul Nechishanu, Artwel Katandika and Shingairayi Garira were taken by ZANU-PF supporters to Scarffel Farm in Makonde district (Mashonaland West province) and beaten with logs.  Garira sustained injuries to his eardrum while Nechishanu and Katandika suffered head injuries.  The attackers also took the monitors’ mobile phones and money.  Two of the phones were later returned to them by the ZANU-PF supporters.

The beating of the monitors follows the arrest of another team of monitors – Godfrey Nyarota and Tapiwa Mavherevhedze, and their driver Cornelius Chengu – by police in Mutare on 24 June. The three activists were at Mukunu North Primary School in Mutare North constituency, monitoring the on-going constitution making process.  They were charged under Section 81(3) of the Access to Information and protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) for practicing journalism without accreditation. They were released on $20 bail and remanded to 9 July. Reports indicate that the police arrested the three monitors in Mutare at the instigation of a well known ZANU-PF activist and a member of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veteran Association.

Another activist in Mutare, Enddy Ziyera, the provincial coordinator of the independent monitoring project, was detained for several hours and released without charge on 25 June after bringing food for the three activists in detention.

Again on 25 June, in Marondera (Mashonaland East province), three Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) activists, Rodreck Shamu, Themba Musimara and another man only identified as Mukunyaidze were taken by unidentified state security agents.  They were later found detained at Marondera police station and are yet to be charged.

Background

Consultations for a new constitution are provided for under Article VI of Zimbabwe’s Global Political Agreement (GPA) which explicitly states ‘the fundamental right and duty of the Zimbabwean people to make a constitution by themselves and for themselves’ and provides for the people of Zimbabwe ‘to hold such public hearings and such consultations as it may deem necessary in the process of public consultation over the making of a new constitution for Zimbabwe.’

Over the past six months, Amnesty International has been receiving reports of intimidation in rural areas where villagers were threatened with violence if they do not support ZANU-PF’s position on the new constitution.  Initially, the threats were meant to intimidate villagers into endorsing the heavily criticized Kariba draft constitution. The Kariba draft constitution, which was agreed in 2007 by the former ruling party ZANU-PF and the two formations of the MDC without public consultation, has been strongly criticized by civil society organizations as an attempt by the parties to impose a constitution on the population.

As a gender and HIV activist, getting the opportunity to attend the 26th UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, as a female youth observer was very important for me.

Coming from Zimbabwe where HIV infection leans more towards women than men, I am always aware of the need for women and girl’s empowerment against oppressive gender norms if my nation is to ever overcome the epidemic which still stands towering above us at over 14% prevalence.

Prior to the two-day PCB meeting, and as part of the programme, I attended a thematic session on integrating sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and HIV services.

Quite honestly, I had never really thought of the intricacies of linking Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) and HIV services, although I had always known about the importance of providing HIV testing and treatment services within antenatal care for pregnant women and girls.

At the thematic session, however, I learnt just how far back we are falling on this.

As Gottfried Hirnschall of the World Health Organization (WHO) shared, HIV is currently contributing to 19.2% of global maternal deaths in the 15-44 year age group. And TB is contributing a further 6.4%.

Imagine that.

TB and HIV – both manageable diseases, when early detection and treatment are available – are accounting for a quarter of the deaths of all pregnant women in the world.

And with southern Africa, my region of the world, being the area most affected by HIV, that means that even more women here are dying needlessly. National HIV statistics from all over the region consistently show that HIV prevalence among pregnant women who attend antenatal clinics is usually much higher than overall national figures.

It was therefore heartening to hear about some of the good work being done in the region to begin to address the urgent need for stronger integration of services.

Dudu Simelane of the Family Life Association of Swaziland gave a perspective from her country of the successes and opportunities for integration.

Her organisation is working with various development partners to provide youth-friendly SRH and HIV services that integrate interventions such as screening for STIs and TB, HIV tests, pap smears for cervical cancer, pre-and post abortion care, male circumcision, ART and the promotion of condoms for dual protection (that is, using condoms not only to prevent contracting HIV but also to prevent unwanted pregnancies).

What’s good about such sites is that they provide a broad range of services under one roof.   And ultimately, this cuts down on a woman’s use of usually scarce resources such as money and time. So instead of spending two amounts of bus fare to first get to an HIV testing centre and then to the STI clinic where she’s been referred, a woman only spends one amount to get all the services she needs. This also saves her time for travel, which is also often a very practical barrier to a woman being able to access services.

But perhaps even more importantly, such integration helps to reduce stigma. As a visitor to one of the Swazi sites noted, “It’s not like other clinics where I have to go to the ART wing. I go to the same dispensary as everyone else to get my medicine.”

That sort of set-up does a world of good to fight stigma and discrimination. I have heard ghastly stories in Zimbabwe about how people who visit the opportunistic infections clinics of hospitals are set apart from other people receiving services and labeled imi vanhu veHIV (you people with HIV).  Such treatment has serious influence on whether a person will continue to come to collect their medicine every month and can actually lead them to stop taking drugs completely, thereby building up drug resistances and damaging the immune system.

If you think stigma doesn’t kill, think again.

As Sofia Gruskin of the Harvard School of Public Health reminded us, one of the main obstacles to integration is stigma and discrimination. And sadly, this is usually perpetuated by the very workers in the health sector. Gruskin cited examples of the prejudice of healthcare workers in many parts of the world who refuse to offer contraceptives and STI services to unmarried women (who in the eyes of the workers should not be having sex in the first place). And on the flip side of the coin, there are health workers who will not give a married woman contraceptives in the belief that she should be having as many children as possible.

In its most extreme manifestation, stigma and discrimination has seen healthcare workers sterilisng HIV positive women, after childbirth, to ensure that they do not have the option to have any more children.

Also, what’s been found at the sites in Swaziland is that there has been increased male involvement through the provision of male circumcision (MC) as an entry point. Studies have already shown that MC has high efficacy rates of around 60% when it comes to HIV prevention (if practised with correct and consistent condom use) and providing it in such a setting seems like a good way of ensuring that men don’t shy away from being seen with their partners at sites which they would ordinarily think of as places for women.

Morolake Odetoyinbo of Nigeria’s Positive Action for Treatment Access pointed out how culture and socialisation leads to the detachment of men from SRH issues by always teaching girls about SRH and not doing the same for boys.  In many African cultures, it is acknowledged that a woman’s virginity is the greatest prize that she can ever give a man. And also, it is commonly emphasised that her role within sexual intercourse is solely to please her man. To this effect, women in some Zimbabwean cultures are instructed to pull on their vaginal labia from an early age so that these lips protrude. Apparently, this has an effect on sensation and stimulation for a man during sex.

But nothing is without its challenges. As Simelane pointed out, healthcare providers can become overwhelmed by demand for the integrated services, seeing more patients than usual. Also, there tends to be increased client waiting time due to provision of HIV counselling and testing which is a time-consuming process.

For such service integration to be successful, there is need for a range of competencies, including capacity building as well as the fostering of strong partnerships with national and international organisations that may be able to provide staff on secondment or funds towards integration.

And a word of warning.

Integration doesn’t necessarily mean cost saving. In order to be effective, it requires a lot of investment and patience. It takes time to change perceptions and attitudes. Donors need to be aware of this and should not expect radical results within a short amount of time.

And you can’t put all expectations of success on the donor’s shoulders either.

A comprehensive country response to SRH and HIV integration will require the cooperation of civil society, government and the private sector with overall leadership and coordination by the national AIDS authority. National HIV plans will need to be better linked with national SRH plans. Funding streams will need to stop supporting vertical structures.

So how can all of this work in the real world?

The most important thing is for healthcare workers to stop moralising and stigmatising patients. Rigorous training and monitoring is required. Journalists and the media should be mobilised to write articles on the matter so that the general public can know when they are receiving sub-standard services.  A healthcare worker’s role is to provide quality service – and not an opinion.

Secondly, I believe that current upscale of MC in Africa provides an immense opportunity for SRH and HIV integration.  Rather than set up stand alone MC sites that drain resources in terms of infrastructural development and staff recruitment, let’s look at integrating them into pre-existing sites. Also, when we finally develop an effective HIV-preventing microbicide, this must be accessible in terms of cost, as well as available as part of a holistic range of sexual and reproductive health services. In other words, I should be able to get my microbicides at my local clinic, and not at some high-tech lab.

And let’s make sure that everyone who needs to get HIV services can do so. Antenatal care coverage in Africa is still too low. In fact, some women still don’t know about it. Let’s take the information and the services to the people and build the capacity of community-based initiatives.

But most importantly, let’s remember that sexual and reproductive health rights are human rights. No, they aren’t a passing fad or the latest NGO buzz. When implemented, they represent human lives saved and money well spent.

Some of the Kubatana team have been moving around various pubs in Harare to watch world cup games. Our favourite haunt so far is Boleros in Chisipite. Cold beer, warm peanuts, friendly staff and a very laid back clientele. For the next game go along to Boleros and have a blast.

Scanning The Herald newspaper today, I noticed how women hardly feature and when they do, they’re generally criticised. We live in a such a man’s world. A world where the emphasis is all on men. Women are still treated as inferior beings whether it be in the classroom, office, or on the sports field. In society women are often treated as if they are a piece of meat. A lot of women are harassed and treated disrespectfully by men. They are whistled at and flirted with constantly.

This disrespectful treatment is extremely evident in the case of sport and particularly in the case of sports magazines that feature half naked women in bikinis. Women let themselves down by allowing themselves to be exploited for a male dominated market where sex sells. Let’s see some actual sports women on the cover of Sports Illustrated, instead of wafer thin super models with bleached blonde hair.

In October 2009 Sports Illustrated featured an article in which they suggested “Sports men who score the most  . . . talent for the game leads to spotlight of fame. Fame leads to money. And money leads to . . . honey” – sports stars get the hottest dates. Fact. Those who score on the field usually score off it too . . .who is complaining?”

I am.What message are they trying to put across? Women are simply regarded as an accessory. What is this saying to the youth of today? It portrays women purely as sex symbols and nothing more .

Then when Sports Illustrated finally features an article on an actual sports woman, its high jumper Blanka Vlasic winner of the gold medal at the world championships in Berlin and she is given absolutely no recognition for her true talent and ability but rather credited as “hottie of the year”.

I find this completely demeaning.