By Francis Chipalo
Mufulira aspiring member of parliament Chris Tchakanga has called on the Ministry of Health (MOH) to act fast before it is too late following the withdrawal of the USA from the World Health Organization (WHO).
And Tchakanga has described the withdrawal of the USA from WHO as a sad development especially to Zambia and other least developed countries.
Tchakanga says the move will have negative repercussions particularly on the already struggling health sector in the country considering that Zambia has projects that depend on WHO funding including initiatives like PEPFAR, adding that the impact will be felt deeply.
The aspiring parliamenterian says the potential disruption to ARV, Antimalaria drug, TB drugs and other essential health programs is alarming.
“The USA has been donating medicine and medical supplies to address shortages in our health facilities in the country,” he said.
Tchakanga says the American people through USAID has been supporting the training and capacity building of health professionals in Zambia, including pre- and in – service training, mentoring and performance management.
He says US President’s Emergency plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has been providing significant funding and support for HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programs in Zambia specifically.
“These donations are aimed at strengthening Zambia’s Health systems, improving access to quality health care and addressing some of the country’s most pressing health challenges. This is a wake up call to the UPND government to put key important measures on how they are going to address this issues as soon as possible by putting up shot term and long term plan because it has negative impact to Zambia health sector,” Tchakanga said.
He advises that for short term measures, apart from changing procurement system, government through MOH should also consider Direct Financing to health facilities across the country.
“In the long term government should consider establishing its own pharmaceutical company so that it can be producing its own essential drugs like Antibiotics, Antimalaria, TB drugs and ARVs,”he said.
Meanwhile, Tchakanga says government should revisit mining concessions and tax waivers to improve the health sector in Zambia, saying this is because the country is losing over US 2 Billion dollars of tax waives per annum, money that can help the country to be self dependent when it comes to health sector.
