A growing number of Zimbabwean students are looking to Poland for nursing education, hoping to find employment in other countries after graduation. Vincent Pol University in Lublin Poland and the University of Economics and Innovation are among the top destinations for Zimbabwean students pursuing nursing degrees.

Over 500 Zimbabwean students are studying in Poland, with the majority enrolled in nursing programs. The reasons for this trend include the high quality of education offered at these institutions, affordable tuition fees, and the potential for employment opportunities abroad after graduation.

“Poland has a very good reputation in the field of nursing education, and the curriculum is aligned with international standards,” said one Zimbabwean nurse who studied in Poland and now works for the NHS in the United Kingdom. “The education and training I received in Poland prepared me well for my nursing career in the UK”

After completing their nursing degrees, many Zimbabwean students are finding employment opportunities in countries like the UK, Canada, and the United States. These countries are currently experiencing a shortage of nurses, and are actively recruiting qualified professionals from other countries to fill these positions.

“The demand for nurses in these countries is high, and the qualifications and experience that Zimbabwean nurses bring make them highly sought after,” he said. “Many Zimbabwean nurses are able to find well-paying jobs with good benefits, and are able to provide a better life for themselves and their families.”

While the prospect of working abroad is attractive to many Zimbabwean students, there are concerns about the brain drain and its impact on the healthcare system in Zimbabwe. “It is important for us to address the root causes of the shortage of nurses in Zimbabwe, and to invest in education and training programs that will help us retain our healthcare professionals,” he added.

Despite these concerns, many Zimbabwean students continue to pursue nursing education in Poland as a means of achieving their career goals and improving their standard of living. With the demand for nurses expected to remain high in the coming years, the prospects for employment abroad look promising for those who are willing to take the leap and pursue their education abroad.

Zimbabwe’s agriculture minister Perence Shiri, a retired general who helped plot the ouster of Robert Mugabe in a 2017 coup, has died, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Wednesday.

Perence Shiri, who commanded the air force for 25 years until he joined the government in 2017, was admitted to hospital on Tuesday, two government sources said. He died in the early hours of Wednesday.

“Shiri was a true patriot, who devoted his life to the liberation, independence and service of his country,” Mnangagwa said in a statement. He did not say how Shiri died.

But domestic media said Shiri, 65, succumbed to complications from the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, which has infected 2,817 and killed 40 in Zimbabwe.

A liberation war veteran,Perrence Shiri had a chequered past. He commanded the army’s Fifth Brigade unit that carried out the 1980s massacres of thousands of civilians in western Zimbabwe as the government sought to quell an insurgency.

The army massacres, known as ‘Gukurahundi’, a Shona term meaning the ‘early rain that washes away the chaff’, remain a sore point for the people of the Matabeleland region, many of whom demand justice and reparations.

The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change accused Perence Shiri of being among the security chiefs who organised violence against its members after Mugabe lost the first round of the presidential vote in 2008.Reuters

The US is buying nearly all the next three months’ projected production of Covid-19 treatment Remdesivir from US manufacturer Gilead.

The US health department announced on Tuesday it had agreed to buy 500,000 doses for use in American hospitals. Tests suggest Remdesivir cuts recovery times, though it is not yet clear if it improves survival rates.

Gilead did sign a licensing deal in May for production outside the US but it is still in its early stages.

“President Trump has struck an amazing deal to ensure Americans have access to the first authorised therapeutic for Covid-19,” Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement. A course of treatment in the US will cost $2,340 (£1,900).

Nine companies can make the drug under licence outside the US for distribution in 127 mostly poorer countries, and the cost is lower. But the project is still in its early stages.

Additional quantities are being manufactured for use in clinical trials. But critics say the US move to buy up so much stock from Gilead itself undermines international co-operation on COVID, given that other countries have taken part in trials of Remdesivir, originally an anti-viral against Ebola.

“The trial that gave the result that allowed Remdesivir to sell their drug wasn’t just done in the US. There were patients participating through other European countries, in the UK as well, and internationally, Mexico and other places,” Oxford University’s Prof Peter Horby told BBC Radio 4.

He said the move also had implications for any possible future vaccine, with the need for “a much stronger framework if we are going to develop these things and they’re going to be used for national emergencies”.

Senior Sussex University lecturer, Ohid Yaqub, said: “It so clearly signals an unwillingness to co-operate with other countries and the chilling effect this has on international agreements about intellectual property rights.”Some in the US have criticised the purchase price, as taxpayer money had helped fund Remdesivir’s development.BBC