By Derick Tsimba
The Organization of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD) yesterday called for the intensification of measures aimed at curbing the spread of the Corona virus, amid a spike in the number of cases in Africa. The First Ladies said this during an OAFLAD high level webinar held yesterday via the virtual Zoom platform, under the theme “The Health and socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 on achieving African universal health coverage”.
First Ladies from OAFLAD member States including Botswana, Angola, Niger, Namibia, DRC and Zimbabwe participated in the webinar and shared various experiences on COVID-19, its impact, mitigation measures and the future position on how to deal with the pandemic.
Zimbabwe’s First Lady and Ambassador for Health, Amai Auxillia Mnangagwa, who is also OAFLAD Vice President, raised concern over the increase of COVID-19 infections in the country’s urban centres and called for citizens to adhere and abide by the safety and preventive measures set out by health experts.
“A rise in local transmission of COVID-19 has been recorded, especially in the urban cities. I am still continuing and intensifying my educational and information sharing activities on COVID-19 to the urban communities.
“Social distancing rules and intensified hygiene measures including the wearing of masks have been imposed in response to COVID-19. These restrictions are by no means easy to accept or practise as these behaviours are deeply entrenched in our social and cultural practices as a people,” said the First Lady.
Botswana First Lady, Mrs Neo Jane Masisi, encouraged her counterparts to make sure the protection of the rights of women and girls especially against Gender Based Violence (GBV) during lockdowns was prioritised.
“As First Ladies, there is need for us to speak with one voice and end gender-based violence. As we battle this pandemic, we should draw lessons from previous pandemics like HIV and Ebola. Women and girls must be part of every socio-economic plan. A lot still needs to be done to end GBV and we have to use the Performance Planning Reports (PPR) approach,” she said.
The Harare Post has learnt that during the meeting, the First Ladies agreed that COVID-19 had seriously affected access to health care services, due to movement restrictions and had resulted in increased hunger and poverty levels, among other challenges in Africa. They also suggested that communities should be mobilized for mass testing through community health workers and infected individuals quarantined to reduce the spread of the virus.
The First Ladies also agreed that African Governments should provide social safety nets through policy and continued support for families and individuals who have been affected by the pandemic.
