Govt intensifies Covid-19 training in rural areas

Harare (New Ziana) –Government has intensified capacity building programmes among health workers in rural areas as part of its multi-pronged approach to dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, a Cabinet Minister has said.
Zimbabwe has recorded nearly 6 000 Covid-19 cases.

Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said capacity building was particularly important as local transmission cases continued to rise.

“The training of trainers is underway in all 8 rural and two metropolitan Provinces. Training of village and community health workers is also underway in all districts,” she said after Monday’s Covid-19 national task-force meeting.

“Village health workers are vital to the country’s health delivery system as they interface with communities on a day to day basis. In the current COVID19 context, their role has expanded beyond engaging communities in prevention and protective measures, to include detection and responses in containing the pandemic. To this end, their current training links them with local health facility staff and rapid response teams.”

Additionally, Mutsvangwa said, community awareness programmes were also gathering momentum

“As you are aware that Covid-19 is a novel virus and each day we are learning new information about it and how to combat it. The national taskforce today noted the changes in the World Health Organization’s protocols on Covid-19.

“The new protocols include the revision of the definitions of suspected and probable cases to take into account the increased knowledge on the clinical spectrum of Covid-19 signs and symptoms and updated approaches to surveillance,” she said.

“Consequentially, our statistics have changed as we implement these new protocols. Recoveries have risen from 1 998 to 4 442 for the period between 14 August to 19 August 2020 largely due to the changes in the determination of the serostatus – the state of either having or not having detectable antibodies of Covid-19 in patients.”

Mutsvangwa said at present, 1 293 people were in quarantine facilities across the country.

“This again follows the WHO recommendation that the quarantine period be reduced from 21 to 14 days,” she said.

Mutsvangwa said the taskforce had noted with concern increased unnecessary traveling in urban areas.

“Citizens are therefore encouraged to only travel when absolutely necessary and those who do not have to travel during peak hours are also encouraged to avoid travelling during these high congestion times.

“My fellow Zimbabweans, Government appreciates how difficult it is for citizens to avoid venturing out due to the demands of different social circumstances. We also appreciate that we have been in Lockdown for about five months now, but the worst is not yet over, let us dig in into our legendary resilience and take heart in that what we are being asked to do will save us, our families and communities. Let us not violate the movement restrictions that are in place to protect us and others as well as the wearing of masks in public places,” she said.
New Ziana