Minister urges world leaders to enhance testing, research

GOVERNMENT has assured the World Health Assembly of Zambia’s Covid-19 preparedness and called on the world to leverage efforts to enhance expansion of laboratory testing, and research for vaccines and treatment.

Health minister Dr Chitalu Chilufya told the assembly that Zambia had pitched public health security at the apex of the country’s transformation agenda amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said Zambia had set up an incident management system and activated the public health emergency operation center in response to the pandemic.

Speaking yesterday during a Virtual World Health Assembly meeting being held in Geneva, Dr Chilufya called on the world to leverage efforts to enhance expansion of laboratory testing platforms, pooled procurement of cheaper relevant commodities and PPE’s as well as enhanced research for vaccines and treatment.

Dr Chilufya explained that Zambia’s Covid-19 response is premised on key pillars namely surveillance and disease intelligence, laboratory and diagnostics, infection prevention and control. He said other measures are case management, risk communication and community engagement, supply chain and stock pilling commodities as well as human capital.

Dr Chilufya also reaffirmed the call for continued focus on universal health coverage and enhanced efforts to, combat HIV/AIDS, NCD’s as well as maternal and child deaths.

And addressing the assembly, World Health Organization secretary general Tedros Adhanom called on the world to unite and rethink new strategies that will change the response to pandemics and to capacitate health infrastructure in order to overcome diseases.