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
Read more...
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
Read more...
ZARAN, TALC call for accountability in funding to Zambia’s health sector
By Brina Manenga and Fridah Zinyama
Wed 29 Sep. 2010, 04:00 CAT
THE Zambia AIDSlaw Research and Advocacy Network (ZARAN) and the Treatment Advocacy and Literacy Campaign (TALC) have called for increased transparency, accountability and efficiency in the use of funding for health in Zambia.
In a joint statement, the two organizations urged the government to increase its domestic contributions to strengthening health systems, in line with the Abuja target of allocating 15 per cent of the national budget to health. The statement made on the occasion of the Global Day of Action called for the replenishment of the Global Fund which was established in 2002.
“Today (yesterday), we join other countries in the region in calling upon global leaders to commit to replenishing of the Global Fund so as to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care. We wish to emphasize that health is a human right and must be viewed as such by our government. The government must be held accountable for the delivery of health for all. We applaud the government for the efforts being made at strengthening health systems and dealing with corruption and misappropriation within the Ministry of Health,” read the statement.
They observed that a lot needed to be done to retain donor confidence in the health system and increase access to health by ordinary Zambians.
The statement read that without increased funding and accountability for health, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGS) would not be attained.
“We need more funding for health at the global, regional and national level. Posterity will judge us harshly if we continue to allow health to be under-funded and allow millions of lives to be lost on account of poor prioritization,” read the statement.
Meanwhile, Access Bank has donated US $1 million to the Global Fund’s Gift from Africa project, a sum which is redeemable over a three year period of 2010-2013, with the first pay out due this year.
In a press statement, Access Bank Zambia head of Corporate Communications Glenda Tutula stated that Access Bank is the first African private sector company to invest in the Global Fund programme under the organisation’s collaboration with African private sector in the fight against the triple pandemic of AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
“The donation by the bank is in response to the Global Fund’s call for support from African private sector in the fight against the triple pandemics threatening social-economic development of the continent,” stated Tutula.
And Group managing director Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede stated that the gift from Africa project provides the bank with an opportunity to lead other African private sector institutions and demonstrates to the world that Africans were prepared to share the responsibility for solving Africa’s challenges.
Labels: HEALTHCARE, HIV/AIDS, TALC, ZARAN
Read more...
