Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE five-year USAID Afya Endelevu project was launched on Wednesday amid calls for the islanders to voluntarily go for Covid-19 vaccination.
Health, Social Welfare, Elders, Gender and Children Minister Nassor Ahmed Mazrui particularly cited the medics for blame, accusing them of failing the vaccination campaign in the country.
“Ideally, the health workers should have been in the forefront in the vaccination crusade but unfortunately most of the doctors and nurses have not taken the jab,” Minister Mazrui charged, imploring all health workers to take the vaccination.
He warned that although the vaccination remains optional, “it’s a compulsory option.” He likened Covid-19 vaccination to marriage, “We are all told marriage is optional but opt not to marry and see what will happen to you.”
Minister Mazrui said the country needs at least 60 per cent of its nationals to vaccinate to convince investors and tourists that Zanzibar is a safe place to invest and visit. “If we really want investors and tourists for job creation, let’s vaccinate or else investors and tourists will be scared to visit,” he argued.
Hardly 35,000 Zanzibaris—3.5 per cent of the country’s adult population of about 1,000,000—have so far taken the jab, according to Minister Mazrui.
The minister thanked the 687m/- project funders and implementers—the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and Benjamin Mkapa Foundation (BMF), respectively—for the support, which he said has come at an opportune time.
Under the project, 100 health workers have been hired on a nine-month contract to intensify the fight against the deadly corona virus. The new recruits will be deployed in the entry points, especially airports and seaports.
“But, we firmly believe that the new employees will as well help in addressing other health related challenges, which haunt the country,” Minister Mazrui said, admitting that the country still faces acute shortage of between 1,500 and 2,000 health workers.
The minister asked the project partners—USAID and BMF—to work closely with the revolutionary government in addressing a myriad of challenges in the health sector, citing retention of health workforce as a serious problem in the country.
“We look forward for sustained close relationship in supervision of employees in the health sector; employment is one thing and productive and efficient performance is quite another,” said the minister.
BMF Chief Executive Officer Dr Ellen Mkondya-Senkoro said the newly recruited 100 employees have received training and deployed to 33 heath facilities and entry points to boost health service delivery, identification and referrals for Covid-19 patients as well as campaigning for Covid vaccination.
She said the project, which started in February 2020, has hired 1,063 health workers in various categories in 103 district and town councils’ 499 health centres in 16 regions of Tanzania mainland.
Increased voluntary testing for HIV/AIDS, adherence to the use of antiretroviral drugs and strengthened maternal and child health care are among the inspiring outcomes of the project, Dr Senkoro said, hinting that the government offered permanent jobs to 40 out of the 1,063 health workers in the project.
She as well asked the revolutionary government to incorporate the 100 new workers into the government employment to sustain the services even after the project expiry.
Permanent Secretary in the ministry Dr Fatma Mrisho reminded the new workers to work hard and diligently to bring changes, “We want outcome, there should be a visible difference between your presence and absence.”
Speaking at the event, USAID Health Office Director, Ananthy Thambinayagam said “a robust and adequately equipped health workforce is essential for continued advancement and sustained provision of quality health care and emergency responses like Covid-19.
USAID supports investments in the health workforce because a strong and capable workforce for health saves lives, especially now with Covid-19 pandemic,” Thambinayagam said.
Meanwhile, the US Embassy in Tanzania released has invited qualified Tanzanians to apply for the 2023 Diversity Visa Program (DV-2023) which opened yesterday.
According to a statement released by the Embassy, interested Tanzanians are encouraged to apply for the immigration program before November 9, this year.
“Up to 55,000 people from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States will be awarded the Green Card freely to move to the United States,” noted the statement.
