Friday, March 29, 2024

Partners pledge to continue supporting various health programs for enhanced health coverage

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The Chinese, Japanese and Swedish governments have praised Zambia’s COVID-19 response with a pledge to continue supporting various health programs for enhanced health coverage.

The three countries have expressed their continued interest to support Zambia to overcome various health challenges especially amidst the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This came to light today when Health Minister Dr. Jonas Chanda held three separate virtual meetings with the Chinese ambassador to Zambia Mr Li Jie, Japanese Ambassador to Zambia Mr Zyuch Manuuci, and Swedish Ambassador to Zambia Anna Maj-Nulkmaj

Dr. Chanda expressed gratitude for the continued bilateral relationship with the three countries which has translated into increased support in human resource development and technical support in many sectors among them health.

Dr Chanda pledged to restore confidence in the county’s health sector as mandated to him by President Edgar Lungu and therefore assured the three ambassadors that transparency and accountability in the utilization of all resources and all forms of support will be key in ensuring that there is improved service delivery.

He further thanked the Japanese government for their pledge to enhance the provision of oxygen which is a critical commodity in the response to the pandemic and also lobbied for an increased referral system through the provision of logistical support to enhance medical response.

“I want to assure you that the mandate to restore public and donor support confidence given to me by the president will be attained and I, therefore, request for continued support from China in areas of public health security, disease prevention, and control and support in human resource,” Dr Chanda said.

Health Minister Dr Jonas Chanda
Health Minister Dr Jonas Chanda

He further advocated for support in the provision of essential medicines and also the construction of provincial Medical hubs to enhance the provision of essential medicines and further facilitated for provision of medical machinery to promote access to specialized medical care.

And Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Mr Li Jie thanked President Edgar Lungu for the continued commitment in ensuring the bilateral relationship between the two countries remain sound for the attainment of various milestones in areas of health support.

He assured of continued support in the fight against COVID-19 which he praised Zambia for having done well in addressing so far.

Japanese Ambassador to Zambia Mr Ryuta Mizuuchi said the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down some projects due to human resource withdrawal but hoped for speedy completion of projects to meet the demand of healthcare provision in Zambia.

Meanwhile, Swedish Ambassador to Zambia Anna Maj-Nulkmaj expressed happiness that government is on the right path to restore confidence in the health sector and to have a clear benchmark on the need for transparency in order to enhance collaboration and get more support from Sweden.

12 COMMENTS

  1. Dr. Jonas Chanda speaking to the three diplomats accredited to Zambia stated that he has been mandated by President Edgar Chagwa Lungu to restore public and donor community confidence in Ministry of Heath. Does it mean the President with the government machinery at his disposal was not aware that due to shoddy deals public and donor confidence had eroded long time ago? Unless the system had gone to sleep because even a street person knows that there is a lot to be done at Ministry of Health because the shoddy deals have been there before PF come into power. Like Mutale Mwanza put it his morning on her radio show this morning that there is need to clean up / fumigate the entire Ministry of Health from cleaner to PS levels. There is so much corruption at that Ministry even getting a record…

  2. PF regime is corrupt to the core, no one is insulated from this rot from the head to the tail. All donors know this fact.

  3. These are the partners we deal with, not those upnd diasporans who are being kept by our partners there abroad.

    I woke up with a headache that is not going away. Pray for me.

  4. KZ I will certainly pray for you brother in the hope the lord listens and keeps that headache going till
    you see sense and tell the president what is actually going on and not what you think he wants to hear
    GOD be with you

  5. If the partnership is financial it is embarrassing. I still say that education, health, agriculture (aka food security) must not require partners! We must be able to stand on our own. Let them support space travel, corruption and these other nebulous things.

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