Eswatini News

“I didn’t think that I could get COVID out here in my village,” says Linda Simelane at her home in Sibebe in rural Eswatini.

“I stay away from people, I stay alone, but it happened that I started getting flu symptoms.” 

At the peak of Africa’s first wave of infections in mid-2020, Ms Simelane’s son took her to get tested for COVID-19, but as she waited for her results at home, her condition rapidly deteriorated.

The Kingdom of Eswatini joined the rest of the world in commemorating World TB Day 2021.

On Saturday 13 March, the Kingdom of Eswatini had become one of the African countries that received the COVID 19 vaccine through the COVAX facility. This is indeed a major milestone in the fight against COVID 19. It is also a major step towards ensuring equitable access to COVID 19 vaccine in the country.

The Minister of Health, Honourable Lizzie Nkosi opened the second consultative workshop for improving access to affordable vaccines for Middle Income Countries (MICs) in Africa, at the Royal Swazi Convention Centre in Ezulwini on 30 October 2019. This meeting, organised by the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa is attended by stakeholders involved in the procurement and use of vaccines from seven Middle Income  Countries in  African. 

The World Health Organization (WHO), World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Swaziland Animal Welfare Society collaborated with the Government of Eswatini in commemorating the World Rabies Day 2019. The Ministry of Agriculture through the Veterinary Department together with the Ministry of Health, Eswatini Royal Police, other government sectors and the Malindza community in the Lubombo region held a community event to mark the World Rabies Day. The event included a march in the community, speeches and edutainment.

The Kingdom of Eswatini joined the rest of the world in commemorating the first ever World Patient Safety Day on 17 September 2019. The theme for this year’s celebration was "Patient Safety: a global health priority.", “Lets speak up for patient safety!”. The theme calls for promotion of open communication for learning from errors and to emphasise the importance of patient safety, as well as increasing the voice of the patient.

The Kingdom of Eswatini is getting closer to ending intestinal worms as a public health problem in line with the World Health Organization’s 2020 Roadmap on Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). The country reached an impressive 98% of eligible school aged children with medicines for intestinal worms in the fourth round of Mass Medicine Administration (MMA) campaign conducted recently. 

Students as voluntary unpaid donors remain the main source of safe blood and blood products in the Kingdom of Eswatini. This was revealed during the World Blood Donor Day commemoration held on 14 June in Manzini. The theme for this year’s commemoration was “Safe blood for all”. The event recognised the noble gesture by regular blood donors in ensuring timely availability of sufficient and safe quantities of blood and blood products for the nation.