Africa-Press – Seychelles. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has just finalised an agreement with the Africa – Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, to support forty-seven Red Cross and Red Crescent societies from Africa, including Seychelles, said a top official yesterday.
The head of the Country Cluster Delegation of the Indian Ocean Islands, Maria Martinez, said the new agreement will allow the organisation to work closely with ministries of health from these countries, as has been the case in the past years, to continue the Covid-19 vaccination rollout activities.
She was speaking to local media after paying a courtesy call on President Wavel Ramkalawan yesterday morning at State House to discuss the humanitarian agenda of the Seychelles Red Cross.
Ms Martinez said she was satisfied with the support provided so far by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the fight against this pandemic.
“We were able to mobilise resources to support our Red Cross and Red Crescent societies across Africa so they could offer technical assistance in the rollout vaccination plans of every single country,” said Ms Martinez.
Ms Martinez also congratulated the Seychelles government and the population for the efforts towards the Covid-19 vaccination campaign, and for having one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. However, she cautioned on the need to remain alert, as the pandemic was not over, and to take precautionary measures such as social distancing and boosters.
The head of the Country Cluster Delegation of the Indian Ocean Island, said the new agreement, which followed appeals launched in 2020 in light of the pandemic, will now be an additional support for countries like Seychelles.
“Through this African Union, Africa CDC, initiative that is going to start this year not only in Seychelles but also in 47 countries across Africa, Seychelles Red Cross will be providing assistance in the Covid-19 vaccination rollout for the next two years, so we are very excited for this project,” she added.
Yesterday’s discussion also focused on climate change, where Ms Martinez said she was very pleased with the level of commitment towards climate change adaptation and effective disaster risk management in the region. She said the idea now was to enhance the climate change agenda so as to be better prepared to respond to disasters.
“The Western Indian Ocean is quite prone to cyclones and tropical storms and we have seen in early 2022 Madagascar alone hit by six weather events so the idea is to be very well prepared and also to work on disaster risk reduction to adapt to climate change.”
Ms Martinez, who was appointed in the new post in January this year, is on a one-week visit to Seychelles and during her stay she will also hold talks with ministers responsible for finance, education, health and agriculture as well as the head of the Division of Risk and Disaster Management.
She will also discuss how to fine tune humanitarian work of the Seychelles Red Cross, as well as scale up its activities for 2023.
The head of the Country Cluster Delegation of the Indian Ocean Islands was accompanied to State House by the President of the Red Cross Society of Seychelles, Kisnan Tamatave.
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