Botswana Readies For 'Swine Flu'

CHANDAPIWA BAPUTAKI
Staff Writer | Monday June 22, 2009 00:00

 

The items included 600 courses of Tamiflu, 500 latex gloves, 40 N95 face masks, 75 personal protective equipment including gowns, aprons, boots and goggles, laboratory supplies which include 900 viral transport media, 10 packs triple package, 93 specimen collection swabs and medical waste disposal bags.

According to the WHO representative to Botswana, Dr Eugene Nyarko, the situation with the pandemic that broke out in Mexico and the USA continues unabated. He stated that by the time of the handover, there were a total of 39,620 confirmed cases with 167 deaths reported from 89 countries throughout the world including countries in Africa. 

Nyarko said last Thursday the first confirmed case was reported in South Africa, bringing the threat closer to Botswana.

'Since the advent of this pandemic, we have been working closely with the Ministry of Health (MoH) and other stakeholders to activate the preparedness and response system in the country and we are quite satisfied with things so far,' he said. Nyarko commended government for giving the matter attention and the seriousness it deserves.

He further stated that it is his hope that the items will add on to government's own efforts to boost up their preparedness activities, especially in the districts and key urban centres.

Nyarko is happy that the vaccine manufacturer, Sanofi-Paster, will donate 100 million doses of 'Pandemic H1N1 2009' vaccine to WHO.

'The WHO director general has promised to provide most of this vaccines to the developing countries and hopefully Botswana will benefit from that when the time comes,' he said.

He also presented two sets of equipment and supplies to support the MoH's work in environmental health, water and sanitation. He said as part of their on going support, they are presenting MoH with items that will be used for the establishment of the chemical data base in Botswana.

The items included HP colour laser jet printer, two LCD Monitor, two computers, one laptop, Sony digital camera and MS Office Access 2007 software.

'I would like to reiterate WHO's continued commitment to support MoH in addressing the health development issues in your country and thereby ensuring the highest possible level of health for all Batswana,' the WHO country representative said.

Accepting the items, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health, Newman Kahiya, said the items will go a long way in augmenting what the country can provide for its citizens.

'As the pandemic unfolds, we must work even more closely than we have done before and we will keep on updating each other on what steps are being taken,' he said.