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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.
[New Zimbabwe] More than 60% of Zimbabwe's working population now survives on vending or other informal sector operations and there is need for the government to recognise the trade and provide necessary safety nets.
Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 disease in Nigeria, late February, the various governments took various measures to combat the plague.
Since Nigeria recorded her first case of COVID-19 late February, 7016 persons, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, have tested positive for the disease.
·February 5: The Nigerian Air Force killed \"some\" (estimated at five) ISWA (Boko Haram) militants in Ngala, Borno.
·February 8: The Nigerian Air Force killed \"several\" (estimated at 10 Boko Haram militants in Gwoza, Borno.
·February 27: The Nigerian Air Force killed \"some\" (estimated at 10) Boko Haram militants in Gwoza, Borno.
Those patients may require hospitals to expand intensive care units, spend more on infection control and stock up on gowns and masks, among other items.
The American Hospital Association estimated in a recent report that the nation’s hospitals and health systems will collectively lose more than $36 billion from March to June treating hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
Nationally, the health care sector shed nearly 1.5 million jobs from February to April, or about 9% of its total, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Even so, health care researchers expect hospitals, doctor’s offices and surgery centers to rebound gradually.
It also may take a while for some patients to become confident that a hospital or doctor’s office is safe enough to visit without catching COVID-19.
Johannesburg — At least 22 countries in Africa will be organizing polls this year, 13 of which will be for the positions of president or prime minister.
So why are these countries not being advised to postpone elections?
However, WHO says it is not discouraging elections but is advising that any gathering of people needs to be carried out with physical barriers and distancing among the people involved.
Handling the COVID-19 outbreak also brought some trouble for Tanzania's President John Magufuli, who is facing his first election since being chosen as the country's leader 5 years ago.
Magufuli is being described a tyrant by the opposition, who say information is being controlled and that the alleged withholding the true number of people with the novel coronavirus is an election tactic by the president.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has temporarily suspended trials of hydroxychloroquine from its global study into experimental Covid-19 treatments, saying that its experts need to review all available evidence to date.
The UN health agency in March launched a multinational trial on a variety of repurposed drugs to kick-start the search for a treatment for Covid-19.
Speaking on Monday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that in light of a paper published last week in the Lancet that showed people taking hydroxychloroquine were at a higher risk of death and heart problems, there would be “a temporary pause” on the hydroxychloroquine arm of its global clinical trial.
He said the concern related only to the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine for Covid-19, adding that the drugs are accepted treatments for people with malaria and auto-immune diseases.
The US National Institutes of Health is also running a clinical trial to establish whether the drug, administered with the antibiotic azithromycin, can prevent hospital admissions and death from Covid-19.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country, Ms Atieno, who lives in Nyalenda slums in Kisumu County, could easily access her antiretroviral therapy drugs (ARVs).
She is among hundreds of people living with HIV who are avoiding visiting local health facilities to collect their drugs for fear of contracting Covid-19.
Ms Jane Oriedo, a resident of Nyalenda, confirms that there are HIV patients in the slum who fear visiting health facilities.
At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, however, 33,000 HIV patients in 61 facilities in Kisumu were supplied with ARVs to last them months.
To mitigate the decline in patients visiting facilities, the National Network of People Living with HIV has started an initiative to distribute the ARVs to those who cannot access them in public facilities.
The African Union obtains 270 Million coronavirus vaccines in efforts to surmount the second wave of the pandemic.
As President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the downgrade to Level 3 of the national Covid-19 lockdown, he thanked scientists for challenging and pushing the government's response to the global pandemic.
\"We appreciate the diverse and sometimes challenging views of the scientists and health professionals in our country, which stimulate public debate and enrich our response,\" he said in his address on Sunday evening.
READ MORE | Another top scientist says experts are being sidelined
News24 reported that the Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) on Covid-19 came out in support of Professor Glenda Gray, who spoke out against some of the government's regulations during lockdown.
She accused the government of not consulting the country's top scientists on lockdown regulations.
Venter is one of 51 academics who publicly pledged their support to Gray on Saturday after the health department's acting director-general, Dr Anban Pillay, formally requested the South African Medical Research Council, of which Gray is CEO and president, to investigate her comments to News24.
World Health Organisation (WHO) member states have signed a resolution that calls for COVID-19 vaccines to be classified as a global public good for health in order to bring the pandemic to an end.
This follows China's commitment made by President Xi Jinping during the two-day World Health Assembly to make the vaccine a global public good, once one is available.
It calls for countries to ensure the fair distribution of all quality essential health technologies required to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
This includes open innovation across all relevant domains and the sharing of all relevant information with WHO.
As the world continues to battle COVID-19, Ghebreyesus called on governments to ensure that health systems continue to function to avoid the risk brought on by the suspension of essential services, like child immunisation.
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...
South Africa currently has a cumulative COVID-19 caseload of 1 494 119 along with 48 313 deaths and 1 494 119 recoveries.
[New Times] The Government of Rwanda has kicked off the national vaccination programme for Covid-19, starting with health care staff as part of the high-risk groups, the Ministry of Health announced on Sunday, February 14.
There have been concerns surrounding the new variant of COVID-19, discovered in South Africa and in the UK
[Premium Times] UN Chief says the world must unite to make coronavirus vaccines available to everyone, everywhere.
Given Kenya's classification as a lower middle-income country, the loan comprises a Sh79.5 billion credit from the International Development Association (IDA) and Sh26.5 billion from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).
Treasury, which is facing its biggest revenue shortfall in over a decade, said the loan approval by the World Bank is a vote of confidence in the government's handling of the economy.
The World Bank also stated that the latest loan will support reforms that help advance the government's inclusive growth agenda, including affordable housing and support to farmers' incomes.
\"The DPF thus complements the recently approved Kenya Covid-19 Emergency Response Project, which seeks to prevent, detect and respond to the Covid-19 outbreak and strengthen national systems for public health emergency preparedness,\" the bank added in a statement.
\"This operation provides concessional resources to help Kenya navigate the current Covid-19 crisis and to cushion the impact on livelihoods and jobs, while supporting the continued operation of essential public services, said World Bank Country Director for Kenya Felipe Jaramillo.
This was highlighted by Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion, Assumpta Ingabire ahead of the International Day of Families.
This year, the day is celebrated globally under the theme- 'Families in Development: Copenhagen & Beijing + 25' while in Rwanda, celebrations are to be held under the theme of 'Let's build a resilient and safe family.'
In Rwanda, there will be no national celebrations by officials from the ministry and other stakeholders will use the media to discuss issues affecting families in the country.
Ingabire stressed that the family is the foundation for a country's development and hence should possess the foothold in the fight against the current pandemic.
To ensure resilience and safety of families, the ministry has carried out continued awareness through the media mobilising communities on the need to stay safe as well as maintaining peace and harmony in families.
Treasury has released K7.4 billion to government ministries to arm them fight the raging coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
Minister of Information, Civic Education and Communications Technology Mark Botomani said the money is from Covid-19 pool money.
This is what is needed to fight the Covid-19.
Botomani said that the government already released K2.4 billion which went to government ministries as well as district, town and city councils to fight the pandemic.
He said another K5 billion went to councils and security agents among other clusters engaged in the fight against Covid-19.
South Africa has started outlining its Covid-19 inoculation plans, despite not yet receiving a single vaccine dose, as it faces criticism over unrealistic targets and a lack of clarity.
