Lungu rallies First Ladies First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa

Tendai Rupapa-Senior Reporter

ALL African First Ladies involved with the Merck Foundation should continue prioritising human capital development through various capacity-building programmes aimed at supporting the work of Health ministries in their respective countries, Zambian President Edgar Lungu has said.

He was speaking during the 8th edition of Merck Foundation Africa Asia luminary virtual conference, 2021, hosted by his country and co-chaired by Zambian First lady Mrs Esther Lungu, in partnership with the Merck Foundation.

The virtual conference coincided with the fourth anniversary of Merck Foundation.

First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa is the Merck More Than a Mother Ambassador in Zimbabwe.

During the virtual session, the First Ladies discussed different strategies to overcome health and social challenges and finding solutions to improve access to equitable and quality healthcare in their respective countries.

“To all the first ladies in Africa who are actively involved with the Merck Foundation, I urge you to continue prioritising human capital development through various capacity-building programmes which are aimed at supporting the work of the ministries of health in our respective countries.

“Madam First Ladies, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, as you all know, we were supposed to welcome you all to Zambia, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic we could not conduct this important conference physically,” said President Lungu.

The virtual platform, he said, had given an opportunity to more than 2 000 healthcare providers, policymakers, academia and media from 70 countries to share experiences and learn lessons. 

“This will help us to see how we can improve the lives of our people in line with the United Nations (UN) agenda 2030 on sustainable development. As we do this, let us not forget that the Covid-19 pandemic is real and we all need to adhere to the public health guidelines provided by our health experts in our various countries. 

“As the population of Africa grows to almost 1,4 billion people, I urge African leaders and all of you to focus on building our healthcare capacity and train more and more healthcare providers in various specialties to keep the African population healthy and productive,” he said.

President Lungu said it was gratifying that the critical role of health workers had been appreciated and re-emphasised during the Covid-19 pandemic which was confronting the globe.

He said he believed that stronger political commitment, purposeful and strategic partnerships are key to improving health outcomes, and the well-being of all people in the world, especially in Africa.

To achieve Sustainable Development Goals, President Lungu said there was urgent need for innovative, dynamic and purposeful partnerships.

President Lungu’s remarks dovetails with work already being done by First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, who as the country’s health ambassador, is working round the clock championing and leading programmes that are to do with health across the country including the underprivileged.

She is actively involved in promoting cancer screening among the country’s citizens and has been helping couples tackle the sore issue of stigma surrounding infertility.

Amai Mnangagwa has vowed to continue working hard to ensure that there is affordable and quality health care for everyone in the country. 

She has taken her foundation’s mobile clinic to all corners of the country.

In her presentation, Amai Mnangagwa described as valuable, the country’s partnership with Merck Foundation which has advanced healthcare capacity.

“I would like to take this opportunity to greatly acknowledge the valuable partnership that we have with Merck Foundation and to be the ‘Merck More Than a Mother Ambassador’. And to advance the Healthcare Capacity in my country, for the first time in Zimbabwe we work on such impactful programme, it is history in the making.

“We together with Merck Foundation are strongly committed to advancing public healthcare sector nationwide, this is very critical to our countries specially in the light of current pressure on our healthcare sector now more than ever,” she said. 

Amai Mnangagwa said over 100 young Zimbabwean doctors had either received or would be provided a one-year Online Diploma from South Wales University, in the fields of Diabetes, Cardiology, Endocrinology, Respiratory Medicines, Acute Medicines and Sexual and Reproductive Medicines in addition to online three-month Diabetes Master Course, one-year Oncology fellowship and Fertility and Embryology training programme in India. 

Through these programmes, she said the country would be able to reshape the landscape of the healthcare sector and empower healthcare providers and motivate them to provide better care to people, especially during this difficult time.

“I am particularly excited as ‘Merck More Than a Mother’ Ambassador, that more than nine doctors were either graduated or will be enrolled in Fertility and Embryology Training Programme in India, which will resume after the lockdown ends. Moreover, more than 14 young doctors from different provinces in Zimbabwe are currently undergoing online one-year diploma and two-year Master Degree of Sexual and Reproductive Medicines, from South Wales UK or Valencia University, Spain.

“This will add significant value to women health and will transform the landscape of Fertility and Reproductive Health nationwide. Together with the Ministry of Health we will follow up to ensure they are making a good use of this great opportunity so that they can help women in general and infertile couples in particular across the country,” she said. 

The mother of the nation said the country had also enrolled 13 doctors in one-year online Diabetes Diploma from South Wales University, UK last year, as part of Merck Foundation Diabetes Blue Points Programme, and would enrol 7 candidates to Diabetes Master Degree. And more than 16 doctors will be enrolled in Online Master Course in Diabetes Management accredited by Diabetes UK.

Furthermore, together Zimbabwe enrolled five doctors to One-Year Online Post Graduate Diploma in Endocrinology and five doctors in one-year Preventive Cardiovascular Medicines Diploma from the University of South Wales. 

To demonstrate its response to coronavirus together with Merck Foundation, the First Lady said Zimbabwe enrolled six doctors to One-Year Online Post Graduate Diploma in Respiratory Medicines & One-Year Online Post Graduate Diploma in Acute Medicine from University of South Wales to advance their skills in these two fields to better manage coronavirus patients.

Zambian First Lady, Esther Lungu who was the host said she was grateful to new technologies that made such a huge conference available online at a time when the world was grappling with Covid-19. 

“I am very happy to co-chair and host this important conference of Merck Foundation to celebrate together here today the 4th anniversary of Merck Foundation, our long term partner in building healthcare capacity and improving access to health, information and breaking the infertility stigma,” she said.

Namibian First Lady Monica Geingos said for too long, infertility had relatively invisible to policy makers and a great risk to those who suffer from it, particularly women.

“Many African healthcare systems do not treat infertility. It makes it difficult for low-income and rural women to access the correct information on the cause of the infertility and the possible treatment options. The few who are able to access private healthcare are usually a bit wealthier, are in urban areas and they do so by incurring significant financial costs which often bankrupt them and brings additional stress into already strained households,” she said.

The inequality of treatment access in public and private health facilities also affected data collection which resulted in lack of correct information of the prevalence of infertility.

Mozambican First Lady Isauro Ferrao Nyusi said she was committed to working closely to introduce innovative ideals to break stigma on infertility and make a great impact in a short time.

Merck Foundation chief executive officer Senator Dr Rasha Kelej said her organisation was proud to work with all first ladies to realise its vision of a world where “everyone can lead a healthy and fulfilling life”.

“I would like to thank our Partners for their valuable participation and support to make great things happen. Merck Foundation underscores their long-term commitment to build healthcare capacity in more countries and with more partners, will work closely with all of you to realise our vision and lead the world to a better future,” she said.

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