President Edgar Lungu says government remains resolute to the attainment of universal health coverage.
President Lungu said this can be done through health promotion, easy access to medical services and insuring that people eat healthy local foods.
The Head of State said this in Lusaka today when he officially launched this year’s National Health week held under the theme “Promoting Health and Wellbeing towards Universal Health Coverage, My Responsibility”.
President Lungu said the National Health week is designed to safeguard the lives of people from communicable diseases and Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD).
He said the ripple effects of not leading a healthy lifestyle is immense and can lead to early deaths and the spread of NCDs.
President Lungu added that government remains committed to ensuring that the nation attains a middle income, prosperous and healthy nation by 2030.
The Head of State further said the fight against NCDs is a collective goal which requires a multi-sectoral approach in order to achieve intended results.
“Promoting good health, preventing disease and entrenching wellness in our day to day lives should not be left entirely to health workers, clinics and hospitals. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that healthy lifestyles are adopted at all levels,” said the Head of State.
President Lungu however said it is saddening to see many people die prematurely from non-communicable diseases when the solution is simply adopting a healthy lifestyle.
President Lungu said the major objective of the week is to improve wellness and to prevent ill-health by stimulating individuals, families and communities to take responsibility for their health and to strengthen partnerships.
He said this initiative is designed to foster and entrench wellness and protection from communicable and non-communicable diseases, water borne and vaccine preventable diseases.
Speaking earlier Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya said that promoting good health and preventing diseases was important in growing the local communities and the country at large.
Dr. Chilufya also emphasized the importance of maintaining a clean and healthy environment as a way of preventing diseases.
Meanwhile, speaking on behalf of the United Nations in Zambia, the WHO Representative Nathan Bachaita said the he is happy that the UN family in Zambia has embraced the national health week and applauded the timeliness of the intervention.
Mr Bachaita emphasized the need for communication of information on disease prevention to the community and encouraged everyone to access the services which are being provided.
He underscored that ignorance should not be an excuse for not preventing diseases particularly at individual and family levels.
LAZY LUNGU is just good at reading speeches…at the first sight of illness him and his ministers are on an air ambulance to RSA.
Who is good at reading speeches?? Come on man, the guy is no good at reading at all. I thought you know him better.
Lungu looks knackered, the only thing left are his teeth. Too much exercising with the Army and Whisky. Sir take away the whisky replace it with good local food.
Corrupt lazy Lungu making meaningless speeches again. How can you have universal health coverage when you, your family and close friends keep running to South Africa for your treatment? You don’t even trust your own doctors and hospitals. And you’re not making any effort to modernize the hospitals, because you have India and South Africa to run to when you’re sick. I just wish South Africa would ban these corrupt presidents from running there for treatment. Hypocrite.
And here I was, thinking Universal Health coverage was attainable through priority, funding, investment in training providers and rewarding them appropriately. Your excellency, while peoples’ diets and habits may over several years impact the cost of delivering universal healthcare, persecuting the thieves that surround you fairly and transparently is probably what gets us there soonest if ever. You are saying one thing, but your actions and inactions say another.
Why would Lungu take the blame for being installed by people like KBF? KBF cannot just turn around and say that he now wants to tell the nation the truth about the wrongs that went on during the elections, three years on. He has to be arrested immediately for not telling the authorities and concealing the truth at the time when he saw that something was wrong. KBF, as a lawyer has scored an own goal and should be made to realise that! He has to be held to account for the lives that have been ruined.
Bwana Lungu universal health cannot be achieved with recurring cases of cholera,very poor public sanitation standards,constant evacuation of VIPs to South African hospitals and an ever failing economy.
Lungu you’re now building golden castles on Mars with this empty promise.