THE British government yesterday availed £5 million to buy the much needed medicines and supplies to help prevent the collapse of basic health services in Zimbabwe. In a communiqué, Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for International Development, explained that the Emergency Vital Medicines Support programme will benefit the most vulnerable Zimbabweans, including the elderly, pregnant women and children.
“Currently, 70 percent of medicines needed to provide district health services in Zimbabwe are out of stock, and within a few weeks, this figure could increase to 90 percent.The UK is providing £5 million emergency support to ensure that the poorest and most vulnerable Zimbabweans are able to access the vital medicines that they require,” he said, adding that the UK funds would be supplemented by other donors, and managed by UNICEF to ensure that the money did not pass to the government of Zimbabwe. The Emergency Vital Medicines Support Programme will ensure that all health facilities across all districts in Zimbabwe will be stocked with the most essential medicines and supplies in order to support the continued delivery of quality prevention and treatment services. The programme will buy medicines identified as the most essential for meeting national health policy goals and reducing mortality, and will particularly focus on children under five; pregnant women; adults over 65; and the prevention and treatment of transmissible diseases including HIV, malaria and TB. This new support will contribute significantly to the goal of providing everyone with access to primary and referral health services, no matter where they live, according to Alexander. The programme will also strengthen monitoring and evaluation systems already in place in order to ensure that drugs are distributed equitably and efficiently to those who need them most. The donation has come at a time when most public health institutions in the country have run dry in terms of providing medicine to patients.
The cost of the medicine has also gone up in private pharmacies, where a full course of pain killing tablets now cost more than Z$39million.
READER OPINIONS
charles • charlesttt@hotmail.com Subject: Not a lie Sun, 02 Mar 2008 09:41:19 • Omugabe,I proposed the for the support through my community interest company (CIC), and I can confirm its not a propaganda figure.
Cheers.
Omugabe • dziva@sanandresano.com Subject: WHO DOES THE ACCOUNTING? Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:57:07 • Considering the fact that Europeans are HISTORICAL LIARS & DECEIVERS, we need to be more vigilant in the reporting, AND NOT mindlessly advance british/European propaganda claims.
Unless Africans have done the accounting themselves, they should never ever just parrot ALLEGED dollar amounts the historically lying Europeans put out there for propaganda purpose.
Especially done at election time, the lying anti-African brits are hope to help influence the election.
The idea is to PUBLICLY forward dollar FIGURES ONLY to make the bigoted brits look good, while PRIVATELY they pump money into the Zim election to try and effect 'regime change' in Zimbabwe.
Headlines about aids and dollar amount could read:
UK CLAIMS to provide Zimbabwe with £5 million for vital drugs.
Because unless Africans have the ACTUAL RETURN OF AFRICAN WEALTH TO COUNT THEMSELVES, then it is ALL A BRITISH PROPAGANDA FIGURE and LIES!
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