Hey there, welcome to our blog!! We hope you find it as equally entertaining as it is insightful. Join the RareZim family by becoming members so that you don't miss out on future exciting blog posts.
Allow us to introduce ourselves:
Heeeey guys my name is Tariro Madamba. You can call me Tari. Depending on when you are reading this post, I am either a medical student in Zimbabwe or hopefully a practicing doctor. It's most probably the former because of how looooong this program is. Currently, I am a third-year medical student at the University of Zimbabwe and I aspire to be more involved in rare diseases and Genomics as a medical practitioner in Zimbabwe!
Hey Hey! My name is Chiedza Mwaitaishe Mahari. My nickname is Chichi. I am currently a third-year medical student at the University of Zimbabwe. I am very passionate about genetics and research. My hope is to be able to make an impact and self-actualise by incorporating all the things I am passionate about into my career.
Not only are we medical students but we are also members of the Zimbabwe Medical Students association, ZIMSA. We are also volunteers for Child Youth Care Zimbabwe, CYC, whom we have partnered with in creating this blog. CYC is a registered Zimbabwean-based non-profit organization focused on improving the quality of life of families living with a rare disease.
We decided to write this blog because we noticed a gap in our healthcare system. Even though rare diseases, as stated in their name, are rare, a number of individuals in our country have suffered or currently suffering immensely from rare diseases that have gone unnoticed. There's a lack of awareness about these diseases which leads to misdiagnoses or late diagnoses. Eventually, these individuals succumb to their illnesses and die without ever being treated. If they are lucky, some may get the correct diagnosis but fail to pay for their medication because of economic hardships. We hope through this blog we can spread awareness on rare diseases so that as health care professionals we may be able to identify them and help our patients.
Don't worry we will try not to turn this blog into some boring course, I am sure we already have enough of those as it is. We are also going to be sharing some stories from individuals who live with rare diseases and some are quite heartbreaking. Stay tuned for our next article where we will be introducing you to Rare Diseases in Zimbabwe.
Remember:
From your RareZim Medics
Sending love and good health,
Tari and ChiChi