Health & Nutrition

What is the problem? 

As a result of increasing vulnerability and limited access to health services, children in Zimbabwe largely at risk daily. 

How is NOXCOH addressing the issues?

In order to increase access essential maternal and child health services for families whose average walk to a clinic is 9 kilometres, NOXCOH is partnering with communities in building health facilities such as clinics and waiting mothers’ shelters (where expecting mothers can be attended to by trained health personnel). To increase access to maternal and child health services, NOXCOH supports the training of health workers, who are then able to treat childhood illnesses, provide delivery and post-delivery care for mothers and their babies as well as immunisations. We are partnering with the Ministry of Health and Child Care and various Government departments to provide effective immunisations by ensuring vaccines stay at appropriate temperatures to be effective. 

 what NOXCOH do ?

Despite the disruptions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, after research NOXCOH shall build   Rural Health Centres and a waiting mothers’ home . These will established in partnership with communities, local authorities and the Ministry of Health and Child Care. These improved access for more than 18,000 people who  could not access health services as a result of long distances. Some of the communities would walk for more than 19 kilometres to seek health services. The screening for malnutrition continued reaching 19,000 children ensuring that those malnourished were detected early and referred for assistnce or treatment..

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Strengthening Gender Equality and Women’s Voice

Based on NOXCOH’s commitment to the rights of all people to live free from poverty, we promote the empowerment of women and girls, and engage with men and boys, to transform unequal power relationships and address gender inequality. We place particular emphasis on strengthening the voice of women and girls and enabling them to influence the decisions that affect their lives. We support women’s struggles to achieve their full and equal human rights, including girls ‘right to education. This includes balancing practical, daily, individual achievements with long-term efforts to challenge unequal social rules and institutions. NOXCOH supports local actors, particularly women, to build trust within and between communities. We seek to amplify women’s voices at higher decision-making levels. We also focus on preventing sexual and gender-based violence and provide support and counselling to women survivors.

    Inclusive Governance

Poor governance is a key cause of poverty. We believe this situation will not change unless poor people are empowered to hold public authorities to account for how they make decisions and allocate public funds. Inclusive governance ensures that governments and public bodies listen to, and respond to, the concerns of the marginalized people and their organisations. This involves the empowerment of citizens to take part in local decision-making processes. Good governance leads to more effective, positive and lasting outcomes over a longer term. NOXCOH promotes inclusive governance in three key ways; by empowering poor and excluded people to know and act on their rights and represent their interests; by influencing those in power, such as governments, traditional leaders in the private sector, to be more responsible, responsive and accountable; and by brokering linkages and convening spaces which enable effective an  d inclusive relations and negotiation between the two. NOXCOH supports local communities to mobilize their voice and demand for improvement and encourage people, especially women, to participate in local institutions.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Sexual, Reproductive & Maternal Health                    

Poor health and poverty often occur together. Therefore, NOXCOH fights poverty by improving the health of  the poorest people especially women and girls. In many poor countries, women in particular struggle to live full and healthy lives. NOXCOH is improving women’s health by providing access to health services, and understanding of reproductive health, HIV prevention, and maternal care. For example, in Zimbabwe, we are improving access to affordable and quality public health services, upgrading health clinics and referral hospitals, and improving the skills of healthcare workers. In Zimbabwe, we are training male and female community leaders in ways to help increase knowledge of reproductive and maternal health in remote communities. In Zimbabwe, we are helping increase the income of women living with HIV and AIDS and helping slow the spread of the disease through education.

Sexual and Reproductive Health                  

Supporting sexual, reproductive and maternal health and rights is therefore central to NOXCOH’s commitment to gender equality and reducing  poverty. Increased investment, targeted programming and supportive policies are all critical to meeting the reproductive health needs of millions of women and men. NOXCOH believes that access to sexual, reproductive and maternal health services is both a fundamental human right and a critical development issue.

As a rights-based organisation, our programming and advocacy affirm and support girls’ and women’s right to safe childbirth, reproductive self-determination and bodily integrity. We work to reduce maternal mortality, increase healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies, and the elimination of discrimination and violence. In Zimbabwe, NOXCOH is improving the health and well-being of women, children and families by changing inequitable gender and social norms and empowering women; increasing the coverage, quality, effectiveness, responsiveness and equity of health services; and expanding and amplifying women’s voices, participation and influence in society.

During times of natural disasters and conflict, women and girls are exposed to an increased risk of sexual violence, unwanted pregnancies and overall lack of control over the situation. Our long-term sexual and reproductive health programmes focus on family planning, ante-natal care, access to services, and prevention, detection and treatment of sexually transmitted infections. This includes addressing the underlying gender inequality and gender-based violence that undermines the health of women and girls.

Maternal Health

NOXCOH want to help a community lift itself from poverty Start with the mothers. Pregnancy and childbirth shouldn’t be a game of chance: Every two minutes, a woman somewhere in the world dies from complications during pregnancy and childbirth. In sub-Saharan Africa, a woman’s lifetime risk of death due to childbirth is one in 16. Maternal mortality is nothing short of an epidemic, yet the majority of these deaths can be prevented if women have access to antenatal advice and support, trained midwives and birth attendants, life-saving treatments, and well-equipped health clinics and hospitals.

NOXCOH believes that the realisation of the” right to health” cannot be achieved through direct services alone; large‐scale and sustainable change requires that we address underlying and systemic factors, including gender inequality, policy barriers and power imbalances that have an impact on health. We work with community leaders, women and health workers to understand and address the reasons for the high maternal death rate. We challenge social and gender norms so women can make decisions for their own health and well-being.

Child Health

Every child deserves the chance to live a healthy and secure life. However, 19,000 children younger than 6 years old die every day and more than 7 million children will die before their 6^th birthday. Nearly all of these deaths occur in poor countries and almost every one of them can be prevented. NOXCOH helps children in the poorest communities though nutritional support, vaccinations for children affected by conflict and disasters and treatment for diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and polio. NOXCOH invests in much needed basics such as adequate nutrition, bed nets and skilled health workers to keep children alive.