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Government should urgently provide suitable and adequate PPE to frontline health workers

The Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) is gravely concerned by the current  massive shortage of personal protective equipment (PPEs) for frontline health workers  in the country in the wake of the infectious COVID-19 pandemic that has wreaked havoc  globally. Healthcare workers rely on PPE to protect themselves and their patients from  being infected and infecting others during their course of duty.  

Surprisingly, the shortages come at a time when our COVID-19 cases are escalating due  to the deadly second wave of transmission, spike in mortality rates and the threat of the  highly contagious new strain of COVID-19. It is sad and very worrying to hear that  nurses at Sally Mugabe hospital have downed tools citing the unavailability of PPE, a  move that could plunge the country’s COVID-19 response deeper into the doldrums.  The government should urgently equip medical staff with PPE and offering them safe  transport to and from work daily. 

It must be noted that shortages of PPEs have left doctors, nurses and other  frontline health workers dangerously exposed and ill-equiped to take care of the  increasing COVID-19 patients or suspects because of their limited access to  supplies such as gloves, masks, aprons, respirators, goggles and gowns. The  COVID-19 response cannot be done without valuing and protecting our health  workers. It is worrying to hear that some health workers are being given just one mask  for the whole week, despite the fact some are intended for one-time use and disposal.  There have also been reports of some health workers sharing same gown with some  reusing PPEs over prolonged periods.  

The government must do everything within its means to avail PPEs to health workers  because failure to do so would lead to unprecedented levels of burnout and disease. This  would cripple the health system’s ability to continue caring for the sick and putting an  end to the pandemic. 

Itai Rusike (Mr) 

Executive Director 

Community Working Group on Health (CWGH)

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‘COVID-19 fourth wave imminent’

BY MOSES MUGUGUNYEKI/NQOBANI NDLOVU

HEALTH experts have warned that Zimbabwe faces a fourth wave of deadly COVID-19 virus if the country fails to get more people inoculated, and that a third jab might be needed to help fight off emerging variants.

The fourth wave will be “more serious” and was likely to hit the country by year end at a time when the health system is broken from years of neglect and personnel shortages.

While the country has been recording falling numbers of new infections and deaths as the end of the winter season approaches, the Health ministry statistics on COVID-19 on Saturday revealed that the country is still in the red zone after recording 445 new cases; pushing the cumulative total to 115 890. It also recorded 21 deaths on the same day, raising the national death toll to 3 826.

Zimbabwe is currently experiencing a third wave of the global pandemic, with the Delta variant, a strain of COVID-19 taking its toll. The variant has been identified in at least 85 countries in the world.

Other variants of concern include Alpha, which was first identified in the United Kingdom, Beta, which was identified in neighbouring South Africa, Gamma identified in Brazil and Delta, identified in India.

Public health expert and president of the Medical and Dental Private Practitioners Association of Zimbabwe Johannes Marisa yesterday said a more deadly wave of COVID-19 was likely hit the country by the end of the year.

He said after nine months, COVID-19 jabs would be useless, adding that by the complacent behaviour of people who relax once they see the number of infections declining the situation maybe worse.  He said some countries were already advocating for third jabs to intensify immunity.

“We are likely to face the fourth wave of COVID-19 around October to December,” Marisa said.

“Look at what is happening throughout the world. The United States is already facing trouble with the fourth wave. The world is panicking with some countries advocating for third jabs in order to boost the immune system. The passive immunity we get from jabs will last for nine months, that is disastrous, it means after nine months the jabs will be useless,” he said.

Marisa said Zimbabwe was likely to miss out on the third jabs considering the way the vaccination programme was being administered.

He said countries such as the US, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Tunisia were already on the edge of the fourth wave of the pandemic.

Marisa said some of the cases likely to fuel the fourth wave would emanate from countries such as South Africa and UK, which have since eased COVID-19 restrictions and warned that Zimbabwe should not follow suit.

“With the world behaving like this, I foresee disaster. How can a country like South Africa, which is in the midst of a frightening Delta-fuelled spike in infections, relax its restrictions? How can the UK remove all the COVID-19 restrictions?  Look now, there is a spike in new infections in those countries,” he said.

Zimbabwe is targeting to vaccinate 60% of its population (approximately 10 million people) to achieve herd immunity and Marisa said this should be accelerated.

“This is the time to get people vaccinated or else we might have a fourth wave. However, the exercise had been slow, politicised and communities are failing to abide by COVID-19 regulations and there is political expediency at the expense of protecting people,” Marisa said.

Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike said the fourth wave was imminent as the vaccination rates of most African countries, Zimbabwe included, remained low with less than 2% of the population having been fully vaccinated.

As of Saturday, 1 002 261 people in the country had been fully vaccinated.

“Our biggest worry is on the unvaccinated population and the schoolchildren that are not yet being vaccinated.  A lot more schoolchildren that are not yet eligible for vaccination will be infected by the highly virulent Delta variant and this will be a pandemic for the unvaccinated with catastrophic consequences to the already broken and overwhelmed public health delivery services that are failing to manage the high number of people needing hospitalisation,” Rusike said.

“There is need to strengthen the health delivery services by recruiting and retaining more workers, increasing hospital beds, provision of liquid oxygen and suitable personal protective equipment (PPE) and making sure that there are reasonable incentives for the health workers who are continuing to risk their health in order to save lives.”

Zimbabwe Nurses Association president Enock Dongo said the mass exodus of health personnel, especially nurses, will further put pressure on the country’s already overwhelmed health delivery system amid new deadlier variants of COVID-19.

“We are in a war due to the COVID-19 situation, and the people that are fighting that war have to be motivated, but sadly they are demotivated and intimidated by the system. Nurses are leaving the country in numbers although we do not have ready statistics of those that have left in recent weeks,” Dongo said.

Chief co-ordinator of the COVID-19 taskforce, Agnes Mahomva yesterday said:  “We are prepared for everything.  We continue to analyse these pandemics, and if you recall, we quickly responded to the first and second waves of the pandemic.  For the third wave, we were up to the task and measures were put in place to contain the spread of the disease, and within a month we are seeing the figures going down.  We have a strategic plan to deal with the pandemic whether it is first, second, third or fourth wave.”

Health deputy minister John Mangwiro refused to comment on the mass exodus of nurses during the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, saying that that was a “human resources department matter”.

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World Malaria Day 2021- Ending Malaria is Within Reach

World Malaria Day 2021

We mark World Malaria Day on 25 April. The theme for this year is Zero Malaria – Draw the Line against Malaria. We draw the line against malaria by taking action to end the disease at this time when COVID-19 has made the fight to end malaria harder. On this day, we highlight and appreciate efforts that have been made over the years to control malaria and celebrate the gains made to date.

Since 2000, the world has made historic progress against malaria saving millions of lives. According to the World Health Organization’s world malaria report 2020, 7.6 million malaria-related deaths have been averted since 2000. This is a huge success resulting from concerted efforts by Governments, partners and multilateral institutions such as the Global Fund partnership, which provides 56% of all international financing for malaria, and has invested more than US$13.5 billion in malaria control programs since the year 2002. Half of the world still lives at risk of malaria. 409,000 people died from the disease in 2019. An estimated two thirds of these deaths are among children under the age of five. Every two minutes, a child dies from malaria. These statistics should make us restless, especially because malaria is a preventable and treatable disease.

As malaria continued to fight back and cause needless deaths, COVID-19 struck, complicating the efforts to end malaria. The COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions related to the response caused disruptions to essential malaria services. Initial messaging that targeted to reduce coronavirus transmission advised the public to stay at home if they had fever, potentially disrupting treatment for those who may have had malaria and needed treatment. The lock down also slowed down malaria prevention programmes such as the distribution of mosquito nets. This disruption to malaria prevention and treatment will increase deaths from the disease and potentially lead to a surge in deaths in subsequent years. Children and pregnant women particularly remain at great risk. The fight against malaria must remain a priority to protect the progress made to defeat the disease. This calls for high impact investments in education, prevention, diagnosis and treatment, including research and development. Key to fighting malaria is building stronger health systems, which have been weakened further by the onset of COVID-19. To achieve this, there is need for stronger political leadership, more funding and increased innovation. Community engagement,
robust partnerships with private sector, foundations, academia, Government, civil society, for mutual planning, execution and accountabilities.

There is need for a cross cutting approach that unites human, animal and environmental health interventions to achieve desired public health outcomes. This is because some human diseases are shared with animals, other diseases such as malaria are related to the environment while other emerging diseases such as COVID-19 are associated with wildlife. Continuing to invest in research & development and scaling up country-driven solutions as well as innovations such as real-time data and next generation nets will help us stay ahead of the mosquito and its killer tactics. Social and gender norms that present barriers to access to healthcare  especially among women from poor and vulnerable households who are often primary caregivers should be addressed. These actions to beat malaria must strongly engage communities and the youth including in aspects of advocacy through participatory approaches such as peer-to-peer initiatives. Communities must be at the heart of the malaria response. In the face of COVID-19, it is time for rigorous efforts to protect everyone who is at risk of malaria and to guard the tremendous strides made in fighting the disease. There is a lot of focus to beat COVID-19 but this must not be at the expense of accelerating progress against malaria. Malaria investments can be leveraged to fight COVID-19 and emerging diseases by promoting and facilitating safe and timely treatment of fever and ensuring that health workers are adequately
protected and equipped.

Critically, malaria programmes must be integrated with broader efforts to build stronger systems for health, which are anchored on established community health systems. Further, ending endemic diseases such as malaria will contribute to strengthening fragile health systems and beating pandemics like COVID-19 because ending malaria will reduce the burden on health systems and increase capacity to detect, prevent, and respond to pandemics. Despite the added challenges by COVID-19, malaria elimination remains a viable goal towards achieving universal healthcare coverage so that every Zimbabwean has access to efficient, effective and affordable healthcare wherever they are and whenever they need it without facing financial difficulties. Malaria elimination is possible. Zero malaria is within reach. The Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) is a network of national membership based civil society and community based organizations who aim to collectively enhance community participation in health in Zimbabwe.

For further information, please contact;
_____________________
Itai Rusike (Mr)
Executive Director

Community Working Group on Health (CWGH)
4 O’connor Crescent, Cranborne
Harare, Zimbabwe

Mobile: +263 77236 3991 / 0719363991
Tel: +263-242-573285|573286
Email: itai@cwgh.co.zw
Website: www.cwgh.co.zw
“Health is Your Right and Responsibility” Continue reading “World Malaria Day 2021- Ending Malaria is Within Reach”

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Zimbabwe Reimposes a Lockdown to Contain Rising Coronavirus Cases

Credits: Voice of America

UPDATE 

by Columbus Mavhunga

Zimbabwe’s government on Monday is reintroducing a lockdown as a way to contain rising coronavirus cases in the southern African nation.

Announcing the reintroduction of the lockdown Saturday night on national television, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga said complacency had resulted in a recent spike in cases of the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 disease.

“Our vaccination against in COVID-19 is going on very well,” he said. “The country is however experiencing a surge in cases. The last seven days has seen 596 new cases and 26 deaths, as compared to the same period in May last year where we had 132 cases and six deaths.”

Chiwenga, who doubles as Zimbabwe’s health minister, said all gatherings except for funerals would be banned comes Monday. Only 30 people would be allowed at funerals. He did not indicate when the new measures would be reviewed.

Itai Rusike, head of nonprofit Community Working Group on Health in Zimbabwe, commended the government for tightening the lockdown to avoid a “pending third wave disaster.”

“Yes, this may look a bit draconian, but the measures are still necessary if we are to save lives. It is important that the people of Zimbabwe should embrace these measures. It is also important for Zimbabweans that are eligible for vaccination to come forward and willingly get vaccinated if the country is to move forward towards achieving herd immunity of vaccinating at least 60% of the population which translates to about 10 million Zimbabweans,” he said.

Zimbabwe’s vaccination effort against the infection has recently been hit by shortages of the shots. But officials say the country still has stocks of the 1.7 million vaccines it has received from China, Russia and India since February.

Last week, Zimbabwe received 25,000 Sputnik V doses from Russia. That was a few days after it rejected Johnson & Johnson vaccines from the African Union, financed by the African Export-Import Bank. Zimbabwe has 39,852 confirmed coronavirus infections and 1,632 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University, which tracks the global outbreak.

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Zimbabwe Appeals for Vaccine Funding Amid Surge in COVID-19 Cases

Credits: Voice of America

by Columbus Mavhunga

Zimbabwe’s government is asking for help from the country’s corporate sector, citizens and other well-wishers to fund the import of COVID-19 vaccines. The southern African nation is falling behind in the battle with the coronavirus, despite imposing a 12-hour curfew last month as part of a lockdown to deal with the pandemic, which has infected about 35,000 people in Zimbabwe and caused 1,300 deaths, most of them this year alone.

Itai Rusike, executive director of the nonprofit Community Working Group on Health in Zimbabwe said in an interview he was shocked by the extension of the “usual begging bowl” when President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government has been lately “bragging of a surplus budget.” He said citizens and companies in Zimbabwe are feeling the impact of the slowed economy, so they cannot donate for COVID-19 vaccine imports.

“So, let us use the budget surplus money to purchase the vaccines. We also have the 2% tax on mobile money transactions,” said Rusike. “We also have the health levy. These funds should be earmarked for the vaccine purchases for now. Even the International Monetary Fund said spend the budget surplus money as long as the financing is transparent and closely monitored.”

Zimbabwean Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube refused to comment Saturday on his call for assistance.

Rusike added that the call for an unspecified amount of funds to import vaccines was confusing after Mnangagwa this week said his government had sourced free vaccines – some 200,000 donated by China. In the same speech, broadcast on national television, Mnangagwa said.

“A national vaccine deployment framework has also been finalized,” he added. “The initial objective is to inoculate at least 60% of the population. Government has set aside the requisite financial resources for the purchase of vaccines.”

Rusike said Zimbabwe should not expect much assistance from its usual donors such as the U.S., Britain and the European Union.

“It will be very difficult for the international donors, to come in and support Zimbabwe at this stage,” said Rusike. “Mainly because the very same donors are having the biggest burden of COVID-19. If you look at the U.S, the U.K, these are the hotspots for COVID-19. A lot of more people [than Zimbabwe] have been infected from COVID-19 and a lot of people continue to die from COVID-19 in those respective countries.”

For years now, the country’s health sector has largely depended on assistance of aid organizations such as USAID. The country’s health workers have on several occasions been on strike – including during this coronavirus outbreak – asking for PPE and better salaries.