President Lazarus Chakwera is on the working visit in Likoma Island. During the commemoration of Community Health Day, the President remarked that he had not had the opportunity to visit the islands and engage with the residents during his 2019 and 2020 campaign period. However, he had firmly committed to prioritizing a visit as the Head of State.
“I am therefore pleased to finally fulfil this dream today as we gather for a hat-trick of goals. The first is to commemorate this year’s National Community Health Day; the second is to re-launch the Tipewe Cholera and COVID-19 campaign; and the third is to re-launch the Human Papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination drive,” said Chakwera.
On improving the health sector, President Chakwera’s government said is closing the Human Resource Gap by hiring over 10,000 additional Health Surveillance Assistants, as well as increasing the number of Assistant Environmental Health Officers, Community Health Nurses, and Community Midwife Assistants.
“And since I became President in 2020, we have recruited 1,578 using resources from both Government and Partners, which is already over 10% of the total target, and we will continue steadily on this path until the Roadmap is fully realized.”
The President further said that “my Administration has procured over 125 ambulances for the Central and District Hospitals, and I am pleased that one of these Ambulances is being handed over to Likoma today.”
Furthermore, the President mentioned that he has established an Integrated Community Health Information System to streamline the process of recording and reporting.
During the tour, Chakwera also appreciated key projects at the island.
“I, therefore, inspected expansion of Likoma District Hospital, on-going construction of the Likoma Port and the now-functional Likoma Solar Power Plant among other projects,” said the President.
