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Health Check, Health Check, Zimbabwe government takes on ‘friendship benches’

Health Check

Health Check

Zimbabwe government takes on ‘friendship benches’

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April 2, 2025

26 minutes

Available for over a year

‘Friendship benches’, a mental health intervention first piloted in Zimbabwe, are now being handed over to the government in that country. It is hoped that this will allow the program to become more widespread.

Also on the show, a new device can convert brain signals to speach in nearly real time for those who have been paralysed, a medicine for rare genetic disorders could also make human blood deadly to mosquitos, and the US Food and Drug istration has approved a new first-in-class antibiotic for uncomplicated urinary tract infections.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond

Producer: Margaret Sessa-Hawkins and Katie Tomsett

(Photo: Counsellor "Gogo" Shery Ziwakayi (R) sits on a bench in conversation with a client "Muzukuru" Choice Jiya (L) during a private session at the Friendship Bench in Harare, 4 November, 2022. Credit: Jekesai Njikizana/AFP)