Zambia News

 The WHO Country Representative, Dr. Nathan Bakyaita and the African Development Bank Manager, Mary Monyau on 1 July 2021 handed over a donation of COVID -19 supplies worth one million United States dollars to support the health system’s response to the pandemic. The donation which included personal protective equipment, ventilators, laboratory reagents and test kits has been made possible through support provided to the WHO Country Office by the African Development Bank working in collaboration with the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Although Cholera is a preventable disease, it remains a significant public health problem globally. Each year, there are 1.3 to 4.0 million cases of cholera, and 21 000 to 143 000 deaths worldwide. Zambia has experienced cholera outbreaks since 1977 and the country’s last major outbreak lasted from October 2017 to June 2018 with a total of 5,935 reported cases and 114 deaths. The risk factors mainly include inadequate access to clean and safe water, poor sanitation facilities, poor solid waste management and consumption of contaminated food.

The Honourable Minister of Health, Dr. Jonas Chanda officially launched the COVID-19 vaccination on 14 April 2021 at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka. Zambia received the first consignment of 228,000 doses of the vaccine from the COVAX facility, a global Initiative representing a partnership between the World Health Organization (WHO), Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), United Nation’s Children Fund (UNICEF) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) working on the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

The World Health Organization Country Office has continued to provide support to the Ministry of Health and the Zambia National Public Health Institute (ZNPHI) to engage communities in the national response to COVID-19. Traditional healers in Zambia are consulted by people in communities for health problems such as Malaria, Tuberculosis, HIV and AIDS, mental health and many others. This places them at high risk of getting infected by COVID-19 and them also infecting others.

The World Health Organization Country Office provided support to the Ministry of Health in conducting a virtual advocacy meeting with Members of Parliament on Nurturing Care for Early Childhood Development (ECD). A total of 22 parliamentarians selected from the Committees on Health, Community Development & Social Services; and Education, Science & Technology participated in the event which took place on 9 December 2020.

The World Polio Day was commemorated in Zambia on 23 October 2020 under the theme “Stories of progress past and present”. Following the  Certification of the WHO African Region as free of wild poliovirus on 25 August, the occasion served as an opportunity to celebrate this historical and monumental milestone.

To mark the commemoration of the World Hepatitis Day 2020, the World Health Organization has called for a global and united effort to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030. More than 1.3 million people die annually as a result of Hepatitis B and C. Zambia has therefore joined the global community to commemorate World Hepatitis Day under the theme “Hepatitis free future”. The theme highlights the importance of preventing mother-to-child transmission of Hepatitis B and scaling-up prevention, testing and treatment to control hepatitis B and cure hepatitis C.