Story by Providence Maraneli
GOVERNMENT continues to empower community health workers, with more than 200 village health workers being capacitated with mobility tools in Gwanda this Monday.
The initiative is part of broader efforts to achieve universal health coverage under the National Development Strategy Two (NDS2), which prioritises maternal health and the provision of quality healthcare through capacitating frontline health workers.
The distribution of more than 200 bicycles is expected to significantly improve access to healthcare services in remote and previously marginalised communities, where long distances have often hindered timely interventions.
Village health workers have welcomed the development, describing it as a critical boost to their operations.
“I am happy because I can now serve my community well. Sometimes I need to deliver critical health information to my patients and the distances sometimes are far, so this will come in handy,” a health worker said.
“I am so excited, I work in Kafusi and having this bicycle means I will be in a position to help my people on time,” another stated.
With Matabeleland South being one of the provinces burdened by the HIV/AIDs pandemic, the bicycles will come in handy in the Anti-Retroviral Therapy distribution programme.
“These people are very critical in health delivery, they act as surveillance for diseases like measles, they do follow-ups on all clients, be it TB, HIV and many more,” Community Health Officer for Gwanda, Thamsanqa Mangwangwa said.
“We are here to complement government efforts; we are happy to distribute these bicycles that will help us achieve our health outcomes here in Gwanda,” Project Manager, Ayifani Moyo added.
The Second Republic continues to prioritise the transformation of the health sector, with 51 district hospitals undergoing rehabilitation and 96 clinics either being constructed or refurbished across the country
