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A Zimbabwean actress battling cancer has asked wealthy citizens to buy a radiotherapy machine for government hospitals because she says the country's only unit has stopped working. As Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare, many blame Zimbabwe’s high mortality rate among cancer patients on the country’s poor state of healthcare.
Content TypePackage
LanguageEnglish
Transcript/ScriptUSAGM SHARE
((PLAYBOOK SLUG: ZIMBABWE CANCER TREATMENT (TV/R)
HEADLINE: Zimbabwean Actress Appeals for Radiotherapy Machine to Treat Cancer in Government Hospitals
TEASER:
PUBLISHED AT: 04/13/2023 at 10:45pm
BYLINE: Columbus Mavhunga
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Harare, Zimbabwe
VIDEOGRAPHER: Blessing Chigwenhembe
VIDEO EDITOR:
PRODUCER:
SCRIPT EDITORS: RH, MAS
VIDEO SOURCES: VOA, AFP
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO _X_
TRT: 3:26
VID APPROVED BY: wpm
TYPE: TVPKG
EDITOR NOTES: ))
((INTRO))
[[A Zimbabwean actress battling cancer has asked wealthy citizens to buy a radiotherapy machine for government hospitals because she says the country's only unit has stopped working. As Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare, many blame Zimbabwe’s high mortality rate among cancer patients on the country’s poor state of healthcare.]]
((VIDEO VOA: Radiation therapy machine (from AFP) Wide shot of ICU room, close up shot of ICU room, tight shot of oxygen machine, close up shot of oxygen machine))
((NARRATOR))
Tinopona 'Tin Tin' Katsande, a Zimbabwean actress, says she is almost done with her treatment for cervical cancer at a private hospital.
She says the government hospitals had no working radiotherapy (radiation therapy) machines so her family helped raise money for radiation therapy at a private hospital.
Katsande says she’s met other cancer patients who have not been so lucky.
((Tinopona 'Tin Tin' Katsande, Zimbabwean Actress and Cancer Patient)) (Eng 21 Sec))
“My peers that I met in support groups, I lost six women with such potential and with such vibe, with such power that (were) taken down with cervical cancer, particular liver because treatment cannot be completed without the service of the radio therapy.”
((VIDEO VOA: wide shot of Jennifer with hospital card, close up of Jennifer with hospital card, tight shot of hospital card))
((NARRATOR))
Jennifer Juliet Mugonda from Kadoma, a mining town about a two-hour drive southwest of Harare, has cancer too.
She says doctors at a local government hospital asked her to stop going there and seek help at a private hospital about 400 kilometers away near Zimbabwe’s border with Mocambique.
She has not been treated for cancer for about three years now. She fears for the worst:
((Jennifer Juliet Mugonda, Zimbabwe Cancer Patient)) (VO in English is less than 28 seconds))
“I am still surviving but I know where I am going; Cancer kills. So I am finished. So what I know is my failure to get treatment is leading to my death only.”
((VIDEO VOA: government hospital exteriors?)
((NARRATOR))
Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health did not confirm or deny claims that government hospitals have no working radiology machines and declined VOA’s request for further comment.
(Shot of people outside hospital))
Katsande is asking the country’s wealthy citizens to help people like Mugonda:
((Tinopona 'Tin Tin' Katsande, Zimbabwean Actress and Cancer Patient))(Eng 21 Sec))
“Somewhere, somehow we have to come together and buy one radiotherapy machine. You cannot holistically treat cancer without full treatment and one important part of it is radiotherapy. Without the machine that cannot be done.”
((VIDEO VOA: wide shots of patients on beds, close up shots of patients on beds, hospital exterior shots, Cancer association signage))
((NARRATOR))
According to Zimbabwe’s latest figures, the number of new cancer cases more than doubled to 7,800 from 2009 to 2019. The Zimbabwe Cancer Registry says 85 percent of about cancer patients delay treatment until it’s too late.
[[FOR RADIO: Lovemore Makurirofa is with the Cancer Association of Zimbabwe - an organization that works with the government to contain cancer.]]
((Lovemore Makurirofa; Cancer Association of Zimbabwe)) (English 17 Sec)))
“The cost of treatment is high and also the knowledge among the population is very limited. Cancer knowledge is very limited, so a lot of people are likely to delay to be diagnosed of the disease.”
((VIDEO VOA: Wide shot exterior hospital shots, close up exterior hospital shots, wide shot of Mugonda, close up of Mugonda))
((NARRATOR))
Meanwhile, Jennifer Juliet Mugonda is trying to raise money so that she can finally get the medication and treatment she needs at a distant private hospital.
((Columbus Mavhunga, for VOA News, Harare, Zimbabwe.))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Harare, Zimbabwe
Embargo DateApril 14, 2023 06:59 EDT
BylineColumbus Mavhunga
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
