Labour ministry promotes productivity

steroids for treatment of patients with severe or critical Covid-19 worldwide. But the agency recommended against giving the drugs to patients with mild disease.

The new studies include an analysis that pooled data from seven randomized clinical trials evaluating three steroids in over 1,700 patients. The study concluded that each of the three drugs reduced the risk of death.

That paper and three related studies were published in the journal JAMA, along with an editorial describing the research as an “important step forward in the treatment of patients with Covid-19.”

International clinical trials published on Wednesday confirmed the hope that cheap, widely available steTHE roid drugs Ministry can help of seriously Labour

ill patients survive Covid-19,

and Social Security under

the illness caused by the

Productivity Development

coronavirus. Department Following is release undertaking of the a new joint data, project the World on Decent Health

Organization on Wednes

Work programme for the

day strongly recommended

transformation of the informal economy in partnership with African Union (AU) and International Labour Ms Kanenga said the proj

Organisation (ILO). ect is designed as a three tire

The project has successfulmethod aimed at firstly comly completed a three days caing up with digital solutions pacity building workshop for for the informal economy the Medium Small and Micro workers to ensure inclusivity Enterprises (MSMEs) in all the in the digital market, linking provincial capitals. the informal workers to the

Speaking after a three-day labour market information workshop in Mansa over the system and further adding weekend, project co-ordinathat it will help to produce tor at the ministry, Yvonne communities of best practice Kanenga disclosed that the has where productivity, occupaembarked on training MSMEs tional safety and health and in the informal sector equipsocial security will be mainping them with good commustreamed. nity Dexamethasone practices that was will the make first steroid She highlighted shown to be that effective the their in severely business ill grow. Covid-19 patients. ministry has been undertaking

Corticosteroids should now be the first-line treatment for critically ill patients, the authors added. The only other drug shown to be effective in seriously ill patients, and only modestly at that, is remdesivir.

capacity building projects for

Steroids like dexameth

MSMEs for the purpose of

asone, hydrocortisone and promoting methylprednisolone best practices are in ofthe ten communities used by doctors across to the tamp 10

down the body’s immune

Provinces of Zambia.

system, alleviating inflammation, Ms Kanenga swelling said and the pain. project Many has Covid-19 so far patients drawn 20 die

not of the virus, but of the

MSMEs from each province

body’s overreaction to the in

thereby making the number

fection. of these The MSMEs analysis 200 of pooled from

data found that steroids

across the country who have

were linked with a one-third

so far been trained on the

reduction in deaths among mainstreaming Covid-19 patients. productivDexaity, methasone occupational produced safety and the

strongest results: a 36 per

health and social security in

cent drop in deaths in 1,282 their patients businesses. treated in three separate She trials. said the Ministry of

In June, researchers at

Labour and Social Security

deployed officers across the country with support from Alliance for Zambian Informal Economy Workers Association The World and Health Zambia Organization said steroids should be used to treat patients Micro hospitalized and Small with Traders severe Covid-19, but advised against giving the drugs to paCorporative tients with Limited mild cases. who have been mobilising their

Oxford University discovmembers ered to that attend dexamethasone these important seemed three to days improve training survival

rates in severely ill patients.

workshops facilitated by staff

Researchers had hoped that

from Ministry of Labour and

other inexpensive steroids National might help Pensions these Scheme patients.

Taken together, the new

Authority as a way of dissemi

studies will bolster confi

nating information to the gen

dence in the use of steroids eral and public address on the extension any lingering of social hesitancy security coverage on the to part the of

some physicians, said Dr.

informal sector.