28 Nov 2018

Concern has been raised about the discovery of dumped ARV drugs in the bushes around Etsha 6.

Okavango Sub-district Council chairperson Mr Mbahahauka Kambimba said some individuals continued to collect drugs from health facilities then throw them away.

Speaking during the opening of the council meeting recently, Mr Kambimba lamented that government spent millions in procurement of ARV drugs but some were bent on reversing the gains made in the fight against HIV AIDS.

Still on the ARV programme, Mr Kambimba said 80 clients were initiated on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in the area during the current quarter.

He said the number of children currently on HAART stood at 128 while a total of 7 771 were on treatment comprising 2 674 males and 5 097 females.

On Malaria, he said two cases were reported in August in Gumare and Shakawe both of which were imported from Malawi and Zambia respectively.

In preparation for the coming season, Mr Kambimba said 55 spray operators had been engaged as well as 15 health education assistants to supervise and collect data.

Gumare Hospital chief medical officer Dr Bokwena Moali said the malaria transmission season started in October and indoor residual spraying for all houses had commenced.

She however said the spraying teams were behind schedule and that they had requested for assistance from Tutume.

The meeting also heard that the sub-district, like the rest of the country, was affected by the diarrhoea outbreak with a total of 1 628 cases and three deaths recorded.

The deaths were recorded at  Gumare, Sepopa and Qangwa.

Still on health issues, it was reported that currently the sub-district operated with a total of 33 midwives including four nurse managers.

Councillors heard  that the 18 midwives transferred out of the district had not yet been replaced.

Mr Kambimba said the challenge of shortage of midwives in the sub-district was continuous which made it difficult to conduct re-fresher training for the midwives as it would leave facilities unmanned. Ends