ZAMBIAN GOVT. ROLLS OUT CHOLERA VACCINE



ZAMBIAN GOVT. ROLLS OUT CHOLERA VACCINE 


By Alfonso Kasongo

Zambian government has commenced the administration of the oral cholera vaccine in an effort to curb the cholera outbreak in the country.

On Tuesday government rolled out  door-to-door vaccination campaign in some peri urban areas, starting with Kanyama and Matero ,some of the affected shanty compounds in Lusaka.

The countrywide cholera outbreak has so far claimed 400  lives,about one-third  of which are children under the age of five.

Cholera is an acute diarrhea infection caused by a bacteria that is typically spread via contaminated food or water. 

The diarrhoeal disease is strongly linked to poverty and inadequate access to clean drinking water.

Health minister , Ms Silvia Masebo,on Monday received 1.4 million doses of oral cholera vaccines from UNICEF.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision approved over 1.7 million doses of oral cholera vaccines for use in Zambia.
 
Ms Masebo said. "About 1.4 million doses have already been received in the country in four separate shipments between the 11th and the 14th of January, 2024.

To further heighten the measures to prevent the transmission of the disease to other parts of the country, Lusaka administration,rolled out the spraying of intercity public service buses entering and leaving Lusaka.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ZAAB QUESTIONS GOVERNMENT'S SILENCE ON PBR BILL

Image
  ZAAB QUESTIONS  GOVERNMENT'S SILENCE ON PBR BILL  By Alfonso Kasongo  A collaborative network of concerned citizens, civil society groups, faith and farmer-based organisations, working together to strengthen the growing movement for agroecology and food sovereignty has questioned government's failure to avail the proposed new Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) Bill.  Zambia Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity (ZAAB) maintains that controversial Bill is inappropriate for the country and must not be enacted as it aligns the country to the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) 1991 standards. The Consortium fears that once proposed PBR Bill is enacted in its current form, the new seed law may trigger price increase and corporate capture of seeds, as well as  country's food system.  The Alliance argues that government through the Seed Control  Certification Institute SCCI  has never presented the actual changes...
Read more

ZAMBIA LISTED AMONG 34 COUNTRIES WORLDWIDE THAT EXPERIENCED DIGITAL AUTHORITATIVE RULE

Image
  By Alfonso Kasongo  The shutdown of internet to block access to social media during the 2021 general election has earned Zambia a slot among 34 countries worldwide that experienced digital authoritative rule last year. According to a research conducted by Keep It On ,182 internet shutdowns from 34 countries were last year recorded and are documented. Sadly 19 of the 34 countries are African countries, an indication of the return of the digital authoritatism. The report  discloses that the Zambian authorities shutdown the Internet during the the tight 2021 general election to block access to social media platforms which  include among others WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.   The report however ,suggests that the country experienced digital authoritative rule which undermined the democracy of the country.    It further notes with pleasure that the shut down was fought swiftly by Chapter One Foundation through the court of law and that the Hi...
Read more

ZAMBIA'S CLIMATE FINANCING UTILISATION LACKS TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY

Image
ZAMBIA'S CLIMATE FINANCING UTILISATION LACKS TRANSPARENCY,  ACCOUNTABILITY ...hence prone to corruption risks,posing threats against building climate change resilience, TIZ report reviews. By Alfonso Kasongo Zambia's quest to remain climate change resilient might veer off course, if gaps such as weak climate regulatory frameworks, corruption risks and lack of transparency in the management of climate financing remain unaddressed. Ànd tackling of how the country supports mitigation and adaptation to climate change remain critical to building resilience to the worst effects. Climate resilient is generally defined as successfully copying with and managing the impacts of climate change while preventing those impacts from growing worse. This year's unprecedented global temperatures and stark devastating of climate change stress the urgency requirement for Zambia and many other countries to build climate resilience, hence the need for strong regulatory framework and transparency ...
Read more