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By Johannes Marisa QUALITY health delivery service requires collaboration. In 2007, the World Health Organisation proposed a framework describing health systems in terms of six core components or building blocks. These components are the availability of good service delivery, health workforce, health information systems, access to essential medicines, financing and leadership. Much has been said in our country pertaining the desire to deliver a robust healthcare to the masses. With COVID-19 always threatening to strike further, it is thus prudent that we keep ourselves ready for action so that we are not caught unawares as a nation. While Europe continues to be hit by COVID-19 left, right and centre, the situation in Africa is a little better despite the little resources available. The public health measures that were introduced by authorities paid off with a halt on both morbidity and mortality. Health stakeholders in Zimbabwe include all those who are involved in health service delivery. These include policymakers, health practitioners, city councils, medical aid societies, the donor community, community leaders who, therefore, should come together for the benefit of the nation at large. It is a fact that there has been a lot of dissension among the stakeholders due to differences which have often threatened the viability of the health sector. Surprisingly, some of the contentious issues are easy to resolve. They only need minimal co-operation in order to move ahead. Being difficult does not help matters when dealing with issues, particularly important ones. The following matters have been of concern among stakeholders and it is my prayer that solutions will be found if the country is to make great strides in healthcare delivery: Service providers/medical aid societies feud The friction between service providers and medical aid societies should be resolved if many people are to access healthcare. There are patients that have been denied medical care simply because their health insurers do not want to honour claims from service providers. Some medical aid societies have gone for more than six months without paying a single dollar in this COVID-19 era. Service providers have been left without any option except to demand cash or shortfall upfront, thus putting more misery on patients. Members of medical aid societies should enquire with service providers on when medical aid societies last paid them. Harare City Council/private practitioners food handlers feud There has been acrimony from private practitioners about the way the city health department has handled the issue of food handlers’ certification. Council has claimed that many private practitioners have a tendency of making claims without examining patients, which has been denied by doctors. Council has refused to release medical certificate forms and its officials have gone around restaurants and supermarkets threatening that anyone who has a certificate not signed by council medical practitioners will be arrested. This is very unfair and it ridicules the prof
A November 26 letter from the presidency asked the head of Uganda's national drug authority to 'work out a mechanism' to clear the importation of the vaccines.
China has about five COVID-19 vaccine candidates at different levels of trials. It was not clear what vaccine was being imported into Uganda.
One of the frontrunners is the Sinopharm vaccine developed by the Beijing Institute of Biological Product, a unit of Sinopharm’s China National Biotec Group (CNBG).
On Wednesday, the United Arab Emirates said the vaccine has 86% efficacy, citing an interim analysis of late-stage clinical trials.
China has used the drug to vaccinate up to a million people under its emergency use program.
On Tuesday, Morocco said it was ordering up to 10 million doses of the vaccine.
Record cases
Uganda on Monday registered 701 new COVID-19 cases, the highest-ever daily increase, bringing its national count to 23,200.
The new cases were out of the 5,578 samples tested for the novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours, the country's health ministry said in a statement.
Tuesday's tally was 606, the second-highest ever number of new infections, bringing the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the east African country to 23,860.
Health authorities have blamed ongoing election campaigns which have drawn huge crowds for the rise in infections.
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The post Practical Solutions to Save on Home Renovation Projects appeared first on Brothers on Sports.
[Premium Times] According to her, the Pfizer vaccine and the AstraZeneca one were presently being negotiated so that poor countries don't have to stand in a queue behind rich countries.
Authors of the research, published Friday in the journal BMJ Global Health, predicted a lower infection rate than in other parts of the world like Europe and the US, with fewer severe cases and deaths.
The study comes amid stark warnings that Covid-19 threatens a health emergency in developing nations where fragile health systems are already struggling with an array of other chronic diseases.
Experts at the World Health Organization's Africa office modelled likely rates of exposure to the virus and infection in the 47 countries under its regional remit, which excludes Djibouti, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Somalia, Sudan and Tunisia.
LIMITED RESOURCES
Researchers warned that surging hospital admissions for Covid-19 would divert already limited resources to tackle major health issues in the region, such as HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and malnutrition, worsening the impact of coronavirus.
The authors calculated this risk by looking at each country's \"gathering factor\" (including family size and population density), people's likely ease of movement, sanitation and hygiene practices.
WASHINGTON, DC, United States (CMC) - Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Dr Carissa F Etienne said on Thursday that the appearance of new variants of the COVID-19 virus in several countries of the Americas, including the Caribbean, combined with an acceleration in the virus's spread in virtually every country in the Americas, makes it urgent to continue public health measures such as social distancing, wearing masks and washing hands...
South African president and African Union (AU) chairperson Cyril Ramaphosa says the deadly coronavirus outbreak has affected both developed and developing countries, but it's the latter who are expected to suffer the most.
Ramaphosa delivered a short virtual address to the 73rd World Health Assembly on Monday and, while it experienced numerous technical glitches, the South African president still managed to raise concerns over the presence of Covid-19 on the continent.
\"Africa is extremely vulnerable to the ravages of this virus and needs every possible support and assistance, including much-needed resources, to bolster its response and offset a potentially devastating social and economic fallout,\" said Ramaphosa.
The South African leader also affirmed his country's support for the World Health Organisation (WHO), which he said had been key in guiding the international response to the pandemic.
\"The WHO has been instrumental in providing guidance and support to African governments with early detection of the pandemic, training health workers and strengthening surveillance in communities,\" Ramaphosa told the global assembly.
Zimbabwe will begin vaccinating against Covid-19 on Thursday, starting with health workers and other essential service personnel, the cabinet announced on Tuesday.
[Premium Times] UN Chief says the world must unite to make coronavirus vaccines available to everyone, everywhere.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), today delivered J$13 million worth of critically needed hospital supplies as part of a third tranche of emergency equipment to the Ministry of Health and Wellness in support of...
To provide supportive treatment for severe and critical COVID-19 patients, the World Health Organization (WHO), working with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Medical Corps (IMC) has supported the Ministry of Health to upgrade and equip the Dr John Garang Infectious Diseases Unit (IDU).
Over the past few months, the Ministry of Health with support from partners have been implementing a comprehensive preparedness and response activities that aim to improve access to testing and treatment for COVID-19.
The expansion of the IDU is a joint effort of the Ministry of Health, WHO, WFP and IMC to respond to this pandemic due to the increase in the number of confirmed cases.
All severe and critical COVID-19 patients are now cared for at the Dr John Garang Infectious Diseases Unit (IDU) managed by the IMC, which is assisting the Ministry of Health to run the facility.
WHO continue to support the Ministry of Health in enhancing the COVID-19 response through strengthening national and sub-national coordination, surveillance and contact tracing, laboratory testing, procurement of supplies as well as training health workers among other support.
The logistical challenge of COVID-19 vaccine distribution in the U.S. has fallen on algorithms, but lack of transparency plagues the process.
There have been concerns surrounding the new variant of COVID-19, discovered in South Africa and in the UK
[AIM] Maputo -- The Mozambican Ministry of Health says that about 10,000 cataract surgeries were performed across the country in 2019, a milestone that fell sharply to only 5,000 interventions as result of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
[The Herald] President Mnangagwa has ordered a forensic audit on Harare City Council to get to the bottom of deep-rooted corruption that has seen two mayors, many councillors and senior officials being arrested.
[Nation] Freetown -- Guinean authorities on Saturday said four people had died from suspected Ebola virus complications, sparking fears of the return of the deadly viral disease in West Africa, four years after the world's largest outbreak of the disease in the sub-region.
Nairobi — While coronavirus pandemic has impacted nearly all sectors of the economy globally, horticulture remains among the worst hit in Kenya with reduced demand for flowers which has seen several farms across the country reduce their workforce by more than 50 percent.
A study by Hivos People Unlimited dubbed Hivos Rapid Assessment 2020 on the Impact of COVID-19 on women workers in the horticultural sector in Kenya reveals the harsh impact felt by some of these workers in the wake of coronavirus which had infected 1,348 people and killed 52 by May 26.
The study was conducted in 12 flower farms located in the outskirts of the capital Nairobi, Rift Valley, and Mt. Kenya regions with 71 women workers out of the initial target of 100.
One-third of the farms had retained their workers but on a two-week rotational work schedule and in one of the flower farms, workers were reduced from 500 to 180 with 100 of them sent on unpaid leave.
Nonetheless, COVID-19 has affected the sector and according to the Kenya Flower Council, it currently operates less than 10 percent of its normal operations with the closure of European markets which usually receives 70-75 percent of the produce.
[Africa In Fact] Abuja Declaration: broken promises
In Zimbabwe, the health sector has been the worst affected of all sectors by economic woes.
Most of the elite have been seen travelling overseas to seek medical treatment because the public health sector is in shambles.
However, with the emerging of the coronavirus, we are seeing the government of Zimbabwe sprucing all corners of the health sector to ensure the sector is breathing again.
WHO, the Jack Ma Foundation, Econet Wireless, Tongaat Hulett Zimbabwe and Sakunda Holdings, to mention but a few, have come to the rescue of the health sector.
Several if not all health facilities in Zimbabwe have been in horrible state, thus seeing the elite seeking medical treatment abroad.
The Hawks have arrested three more people in connection with the R255 million asbestos audit corruption case.
In these uncertain times, it is important that people work together to ensure that they do all they can to prevent the further spread of the virus.
Luckily, mobile money has been a key element of how people manage their finances in Tanzania and East Africa in general for many years now.
There are numerous benefits to mobile money that Tanzania has enjoyed in recent years.
These benefits have been largely driven by innovative telecoms companies, like Tigo Tanzania, who have worked to create user friendly mobile money services such as Tigo Pesa.
More online solutions together with all our other health measures that are already in place will help minimise the spread of COVID-19 and help keep people safe.
Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Ssekikubo and Kumi Municipality MP Monica Amoding last week during a press conference said they had been informed by their friends that money was being dished out but that they had failed to access the venues where the distribution was taking place.
The two were joined by Ntungamo Municipality MP Gerald Karuhanga and Kalungu West MP Joseph Ssewungu who attacked NRM MPs for wasting taxpayers' money.
Addressing a press conference yesterday at Parliament, the ruling party MPs accused the above mentioned MPs of hiding under immunity of Parliament to blackmail their colleagues.
\"Any person who said that I was giving out money to NRM MPs was under the influence of drugs.
\"I have never received or distributed any money to any MP.
BY ANDREW KUNAMBURA THE United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has urged African countries to adopt policy measures that encourage green investments aimed at increasing productivity to facilitate durable recovery from the coronavirus crisis and achieve sustainable industrialisation. This was said by Hopestone Kayiska Chavula, officer-in-charge of the macroeconomic analysis section in the think-tank’s macro-economics and governance division, at the beginning of the 39th ECA Committee of Experts of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development meeting underway in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Chavula said COVID-19 had significantly affected social and economic development progress on the continent, adding that the ECA estimated that between 49 million and 161 million people would fall into deep poverty as a result of the crisis. “Strengthening health systems, including through the establishment of regional state-of-the-art health centres is also critical. “There is need for support from the international community to address liquidity constraints and promote recovery. This can be done through new issuance and reallocation of special drawing rights, lower cost of credit, orderly debt restructuring and recapitalisation of multilateral development banks (MDBs).” Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have contracted in 2020 despite recovering in the third and fourth quarters of 2020, but there is a positive 2021 outlook. Fiscal deficits have widened due to increased government expenditure to halt the spread of the pandemic, with many more African countries at risk of debt distress as a result. “Accommodative monetary policies have been maintained to cushion the negative effects of the pandemic on economic activity despite inflationary pressure in some countries,” Chavula said. African trade declined but is expected to increase with the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area. Real GDP growth remained subdued on the continent mainly due to the downside risks associated with the second wave of infections, lower commodity prices and significant fiscal risks as well as conflicts in some countries. However, Chavula said 2021 looked positive due to the availability of COVID-19 vaccines and improved economic activity in the fourth quarter of 2020, reduced holiday and travel expenditure. On the other hand, the pandemic has created an opportunity for a climate resilient green growth as an opportunity to drive recovery. Follow Andrew on Twitter @akunambura
The post ‘Adopt policy measures that foster green investments’ appeared first on NewsDay Zimbabwe.
Takoradi — AngloGold Ashanti marked this year's Africa Day with a commitment to help sustain efforts to fight COVID-19 pandemic on the continent.
The company made the pledge when it joined more than 1.2 billion Africans across the continent and in the diaspora on Monday, to mark Africa Day, at a time the African Union (AU) was spearheading several initiatives aimed to combat the spread of COVID-19 and ensure Africa's economic resilience.
The Chief Operating Officer for Africa, Sicelo Ntuli, in a statement released to the Ghanaian Times, said: \"AngloGold Ashanti is committed to supporting the AU in its response strategy and is working in cooperation with the respective government programmes and stakeholders to roll out a series of hygiene and educational interventions at its sites and across communities.\"
Mr Ntuli said: \"AngloGold Ashanti aims to support the countries in which we operate to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
He mentioned that in Ghana, AngloGold Ashanti Malaria Control has disinfected health centres, markets and carried out education campaign on COVID-19 in the Obuasi municipality.
[SAnews.gov.za] South Africa has recorded over 20 000 new COVID-19 cases two days in a row, the latest statistics reveal.
