Bringing Healthcare to Artisanal Miners in Zimbabwe | Elizabeth Karavhina

Zimbabwe is currently experiencing a high burden of TB, silicosis and HIV among communities of small-scale and artisanal miners. Multi-sectoral and innovative interventions are required to stem this triple epidemic in Zimbabwe. The risk of silicosis increased due to the severity of exposure to silica dust.
To provide basic healthcare services to the artisanal miners, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is running a medical outreach initiative in Gwanda District, Matabeleland South Province, supporting the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) in reaching out to hard-to-reach populations, specifically targeting communities occupied in artisanal small-scale gold miners with a comprehensive basic health care outreach programme. MSF selected Gwanda district for an intervention because of poor health indicators in the artisanal mining community.