Story by Abigirl Tembo, Health Editor
THE second edition of the Africa Health ExCon is underway in Cairo, Egypt, with health ministers and experts discussing ways to strengthen healthcare systems across the continent.
Vice President General Retired Dr Constantino Chiwenga, who is also the Minister of Health and Child Care is part of the delegates invited by the Egyptian government to attend the official opening of the conference also graced by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and health experts from the continent.
Soon after the official opening, Vice President Chiwenga held a meeting with the Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly where they discussed possible areas of cooperation between the two countries.
“This afternoon we had a meeting with the Prime Minister of Egypt, Honourable Mostafa Madbouli following the opening of the Africa Health ExCon by the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt Abdel Fattah El-Sisi this morning. I was here last June for the first edition of this conference and today we were following up on the areas we discussed last year and then the follow-up which were done by our respective technical staff on all the areas of cooperation between Zimbabwe and the Arab Republic of Egypt with emphasis on the health sector,” said Dr Chiwenga.
“We also focused on areas of interest, looking specifically at areas of cooperation in agriculture, manufacturing, and the health sector which I talked about, so we touched on those areas in detail on what needs to be done. Egypt is very interested in us cooperating in the area of agriculture. You are all aware that now the main threat facing the world is food security and food nutrition. So, we shall be seeing a lot of cooperation in that area, the production of cereal and also fisheries. We then also touched on the area of energy and they are quite experienced in rural electrification.”
Vice President Chiwenga is part of the more than 1,200 speakers from over 90 countries taking part in the conference organised by the Egyptian Authority for Unified Procurement, Medical Supply and Technology Management (AUPP) and the Arab Hospitals Federation under the patronage of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi.
