Day: August 13, 2021

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA – Somalia has received more than than 300,000 doses of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. The doses, donated by the U.S. through the international COVAX facility, will be the first single-dose vaccines to be distributed in Somalia.

Somali health authorities received 302,400 doses Thursday of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine through the COVAX facility.

Dr. Ahmed Hussein Moalim, Somalia’s deputy minister for Health, expressed gratitude to the U.S. government for the donation.

He says the vaccines they received from U.S. will help curb the spread of the virus in the country and boost efforts by health authorities to control the pandemic.

According to President Joe Biden, Washington has shipped more than 110 million doses of vaccines to 65 nations so far.

U.S. officials in Mogadishu said the primary goal of the donations is to save lives.

“This is something we are doing with a singular aim of saving lives because we do believe firmly that the vaccines are the best path forward in ending this pandemic and saving lives globally,” said the official.

Anita Kiki Gbeho, the U.N. special representative in Somalia, said the vaccines help protect Somalis against COVID-19 and are an important step towards a return to normalcy.

“This is part of a global effort an effort to support countries to be able to vaccinate their people,” said Gbeho. “We know it is a long road on the continent and a long road in Somalia to make sure particularly the frontline workers and the most vulnerable are vaccinated.”

Somalia has registered more than 16,000 coronavirus cases and 864 fatalities since the first case was recorded in the country in March 2020.

There has been a surge in recent weeks, and in the past 48 hours, 92 people tested positive across the country.

Source: Voice of America

HARARE, ZIMBABWE – Churches in Zimbabwe are questioning the government’s sincerity in allowing them to hold services for the vaccinated when only about 10% of the country’s population has been vaccinated against COVID-19. The government said this week that Christians who had received two shots could gather, a move some see as a way to drive up inoculation, given that more than 70% of the country’s population is Christian.

This week, Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa told reporters that the government had noticed a decline of new COVI-19 cases, therefore.

“Cabinet wishes to inform the public that churches can now allow sit-in congregants under the following conditions: only congregants who have received two doses of the [COVID-19] vaccine are allowed to attend,” Mutsvangwa said. “And all Ministry of Health and Child Care and WHO protocols have to be adhered to. And those found in breach will be arrested including the leaders of the church.”

The government said it would not extend that permission to bars, as most drinkers were vaccinated and did not believe in the “mark of the beast,” theory which some church leaders were preaching to discourage congregants from getting vaccines.

On Friday, Blessing Makwara, general secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe said churches were still digesting the government statement, and will soon issue a statement to members taking note of.

“Number one, our acknowledgement of the government’s desire to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, two, our members’ varying position on COVID-19 vaccinations, three, the unavailability of enough vaccines to cover at least 60% of the population,” Makwara said.

More than 1.9 million Zimbabweans out of a population of 14 million have received their first vaccination shots, and nearly 1.2 million have received their second inoculation. This is partly due to hesitancy among citizens and intermittent shortages of vaccines.

Harare-based political commentator Rejoice Ngwenya says the development should not be mistaken for the fear of God by the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the ZANU-PF party.

“No! They have opened one eye towards election 2023. Hoping that perhaps even the so-called apostolic movement can be able to support them,” Ngwenya said. “It is some sort of appeasement. Schools are not open, bars are not open, sports has not resumed, weddings and funerals are still under bondage. So I believe there is something to do with the cunning eye of ZANU-PF to be able to start canvassing for votes and using churches as a springboard for populist benevolence.”

Zimbabwe currently has 118,754 confirmed coronavirus infections and 4,047 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the global outbreak.

The government says the vaccination program is intensifying, targeting what it calls hotspots. The number of cases has been rising lately, as the delta variant becomes more widespread.

Source: Voice of America

MACHINGA, MALAWI  – Malawi had nearly 7 million malaria cases last year, more than a third of the population, with 2,500 lives lost to the mosquito-borne disease. However, one village has become a model for how to eradicate malaria and in June was honored as the first ever to have zero malaria cases for a whole year.

Margret Kachere, a resident of Mwikala village in Machinga district, recounted a day in 2009 when her family of five children was about to lose its second-born child to malaria.

“That day her body was too hot, and she would often faint,” she said. “I took her to a traditional healer, but it did not help. It was so terrible that one could not sleep. This forced me to take her to the hospital the following day, where she got help after (being) diagnosed with malaria.”

Kachere’s family members are among thousands in Mwikala who have long been affected by malaria, largely because of beliefs and misconceptions about the use of mosquito nets as a preventive measure.

“We believed that if one sleeps under a mosquito net they would suffer from loss of libido,” Kachere said. “And also that if one sleeps under the net would die soon because the net symbolizes a coffin. So, we were afraid to sleep under the mosquito net.”

But the community-driven anti-malaria campaign, which started in 2016, has changed that.

Now, Mwikala, home to more than 12,000 people, has become a model village for combating malaria.

In June of this year, Malawi’s president, Lazarus Chakwera, honored the village’s chief for reducing malaria infection and for recording zero cases since 2017.

Chakwera spoke during the televised launch of the nationwide anti-malaria campaign in Machinga district.

“What this village has done has given me hope that if everyone follows what they do, the campaign to make Malawi free from malaria is possible,” he said.

Malaria is the No. 1 killer disease in Malawi and accounts for 36% of all hospital outpatients and 15% of hospital admissions.

Last year alone, malaria killed 2,500 people in Malawi, more than any other disease, including COVID-19.

The village’s owes its award to a group of community volunteers who taught the villagers about malaria prevention measures.

Their activities include drama, community health talks and door-to-door campaigns. This has forced people from surrounding villages to learn about the measures.

Additionally, the village chief augmented the campaign by creating laws requiring villagers to use mosquito nets.

“I have introduced the bylaws to prevent people from abusing mosquito nets,” said Yasin Mustapha, a senior chief for Mwikala village. “Some people would sell the free mosquito nets to fishermen. So, anyone disobeying the bylaws would pay a fine of $6. I use the money (to) buy a mosquito net, and I give it to those who don’t have (one).”

The success has inspired Mwikala community volunteers, who say that funds permitting, they will take their anti-malaria campaign to nearby villages or beyond.

Source: Voice of America