Dismissals will worsen health situation - TALC
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Mon 09 Dec. 2013, 14:00 CAT
THE Treatment Advocacy and Literacy Campaign says the decision by the government to fire all nurses that took part in the strike will only exacerbate the already worsened situation, especially at UTH.
And Mwanza says the government will do well to learn from what transpired in the late Fredrick Chiluba's administration where health personnel were fired and it was the ordinary members of the public who suffered in return.
TALC country director Felix Mwanza said one nurse would now be required to attend to about 50 patients with some even sleeping on the floor.
Mwanza expressed shock that the government and management at UTH, Mwanawasa and Livingstone Hospitals decided to go ahead and fire nurses and midwives following what government is calling an 'illegal' strike that they participated in.
"While as an organisation are alive to the fact that during the sitting in period by the nurses, members of the general public were treated to untold miseries that may even have resulted in loss of lives of our people, firing this important cadre of health personnel is not a solution," he said.
He said Zambia cannot run away from the fact that her hospitals and clinics had an acute shortage of health personnel who are mainly nurses and midwives.
Mwanza said if the government does not rescind its decision on the fired nurses and unconditionally reinstate them, then the government was also telling Zambians that they should as well forget about achieving millennium development goals 4, 5 and 6.
"Further, significant steps recorded in reducing maternal and child mortality will come under heavy scrutiny as the government's move is certainly a minus on the gains made this far," he said.
He reminded both the government and management at these institutions, that it was failure and lack of foresight that has resulted into this situation.
"Therefore, like in any other human equation, both sides must be magnanimous enough to take the problem and inflicting punishment on one side is not only symptomatic of a kneejerk reaction at the eleventh hour but one that does not inspire hope," he said.
Mwanza said their view as an organisation, whose membership had greatly benefited from the services of essential health workers, is that the government rescinds its decision and unconditionally reinstate the fired nurses.
He said Zambia as a country was already under a lot of stress and adding on other issues that amount to job losses would only worsen the already despicable situation in our health institutions.
"We are however, hopeful that being a listening and pro-poor government, they will reverse this decision," said Mwanza.
Labels: FELIX MWANZA, HEALTHCAE, NURSES, TALC
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NGO urges third-line HIV treatment
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Tue 04 Jan. 2011, 04:00 CAT
AN ANTI-AIDS organisation has urged the government to look into the possibility of availing third line treatment for HIV patients next year.
But Ministry of Health spokesperson Dr Kamoto Mbewe said those who were failing on the second line of antiretroviral therapy (ART) would be treated individually and alternative drugs would be found for them.
Treatment Advocacy and Literacy Campaign (TALC) country coordinator Felix Mwanza said evidence was there that people were failing on second line treatment.
Mwanza said even though there was cases in Lusaka and Kitwe, there were signs that there could be a similar situation throughout the country.
He said what was needed was to put in place measures to ascertain whether all those who are on second line treatment were failing or not.
He said failure to procure the third line drugs would have future complications as people could develop a very resistance HIV which could prove costly.
But Dr Mbewe said over 94 per cent of HIV patients were still responsive to the second line treatment and those failing were a small percentage.
And Mwanza said the year 2010 had been a very challenging year in as far as health and HIV and AIDS was concerned.
Mwanza said though there was a reduction in the number of new HIV infections and deaths from AIDS related illnesses at the global level, People Living with HIV and AIDS (PLHA) in Zambia faced some challenges.
He said drug shortages for both HIV, tuberculosis and other essential medicines were the order of the day throughout the country.
Mwanza said the suspension of the Global Funds to the Ministry of Health had a devastating effect on people living with HIV as a lot of services that are supported by Global Funds suffered.
“The misapplication, abuse of Global Funds by the principal recipients has further dented our ability as a nation to attract further funding not only from the Global Fund but other co-operating partners as well,” he said.
He said the failure by relevant authorities to act following the report on the abuse has left psychological anguish among PLHAs and further depressed them.
Mwanza said the non proactiveness by the National AIDS Council does not inspire PLHAs and later on the general members of the public.
Labels: FELIX MWANZA, HIV/AIDS, KAMOTO MBEWE, NGOs, TALC
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Anti AIDS consultant calls for policy review on ARV accessibility
By Florence Bupe
Mon 20 Sep. 2010, 14:00 CAT
AN HIV/ AIDS advocacy and literacy consultant Paul Kasonkomona has appealed to government to review pharmaceutical sector policies to make Anti- Retroviral (ARV) drugs cheaper and more accessible.
Speaking to journalists during an HIV/ AIDS sensitization workshop organized by the Treatment Advocacy and Literacy Campaign (TALC), Kasonkomona said certain ARV regimens were
either unavailable or too expensive for most poor infected Zambians to access.
He explained that HIV/ AIDS activists had been pushing for the availability and affordability of the third line ARV treatment but government had remained unresponsive.
Kasonkomona, who is receiving the second line of ARV treatment, charged that limitations in the availability of the third line treatment were partly as a result of corruption in government institutions handling issues of medication.
“Some officials in government and the pharmaceutical industry have a tendency of protecting their own interests, resulting in treatment being expensive. Actions entered into by some of our officials overseas threaten Zambia’s access to medicines,” he said.
Kasonkomona further said imbalances in pharmaceutical trade had the potential to reverse the positive trends attained in making ARVs accessible to many Zambians.
“Trade imbalances, especially in the health sector, will result in the country suffering great losses. For instance, globalised patent rights which permit pharmaceutical companies to exclude lower, generic competitors and thus set profit maximizing monopoly prices will negatively affect the country’s service delivery in the health sector,” he said.
Approximately 150 people in Lusaka alone are in need of third line ARV treatment but only two people are known to be accessing the third line cocktail of drugs at a cost of US $1000 per month, a figure beyond the reach of many affected Zambians.
And TALC country coordinator Felix Mwanza said it was unacceptable for government to fail to avail the third line ARV treatment in the name of reducing expenses when lives were being lost.
He said there was need for government to attach more seriousness to HIV / AIDS related issues, and complained that government had decided to drop the independent HIV Chapter from the sixth national development plan (SNDP).
Labels: ARVs, FELIX MWANZA, HIV/AIDS, PAUL KASONKOMONA
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