{"id":38497,"date":"2026-07-01T11:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T09:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=38497"},"modified":"2026-07-01T11:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T09:04:10","slug":"zimbabwes-500km-walk-highlights-fight-against-drug-substance-abuse","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/zimbabwes-500km-walk-highlights-fight-against-drug-substance-abuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Zimbabwe&#8217;s 500km walk highlights fight against drug, substance abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A 23-day walk from Zimbabwe&#8217;s southern border to the capital is drawing attention to the country&#8217;s growing drug and substance abuse crisis. The organisers are hoping every kilometre covered will encourage more young people to choose recovery over addiction.<\/p>\n<p>The campaign, dubbed &#8220;Together We Rise, United We Heal,&#8221; began in Beitbridge on June 27 and is expected to end in Harare on\u00a0 July 19, after participants complete a journey of more than 500km.<\/p>\n<p>The initiative is a partnership between state-owned mobile network operator NetOne and Heal United States Zimbabwe, a community organisation founded by a former drug addict.<\/p>\n<p>Organisers say the initiative is also providing vulnerable young people with access to digital counselling and rehabilitation support, while aligning the campaign with Zimbabwe&#8217;s Vision 2030 development agenda.<br \/>\n&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":34734,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[],"class_list":["post-38497","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The campaign, dubbed \"Together We Rise, United We Heal,\" began in Beitbridge on June 27","published_date":"","news_description":"The campaign, dubbed \"Together We Rise, United We Heal,\" began in Beitbridge on June 27","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38498,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38497\/revisions\/38498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=38497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}