COVID-19: New strategy to fight community infections launched

VIRUS   HEALTH

KAMPALA - With Uganda's COVID-19 cases nearing the 11,000-mark, the government has launched a new strategy to involve individuals and communities in the fight against the pandemic. 

The National Community Engagement Strategy (CES) for COVID-19 response, was launched on Tuesday by the Prime Minister, Dr Ruhakana Ruganda, in Kampala. 

Rugunda said the strategy has been established to respond to phase four of the pandemic in the country. Phase four means that there is a widespread of local transmission of COVID-19 across the country. As of today, Uganda has 10,788 cases with 97 deaths. 

He said the strategy was established following a meeting between the National Taskforce and President Yoweri Museveni on August 28, whereby the president directed that the CES sub-committee be established to implement. 

"The objective of this strategy is to ensure that all people in Uganda are aware, empowered and are participating actively in the prevention and control of the outbreak of COVID-19 as both a duty and a right, using existing structures, systems and resources as much as possible," Rugunda said. 

He said that through the strategy, the government is handing over the responsibility of fighting COVID-19 to individuals, households and communities. 

Prof. Francis Omaswa, who is the chairperson of the CES sub-committee, noted that the strategy is a call to Ugandans to take responsibility for their health and ensure that COVID-19 spread is suppressed. 

He said under CES, they are establishing village committees on COVID-19, whose role will among others, involve case detection and management including isolation, contact tracing and reporting, protection of the vulnerable, awareness creation and maintaining the village health register on households. 

These village taskforces, he said, will each have a community health worker who will superintend over its activities full time. 

The health workers selected from the existing Village Health Teams (VHTs), will be paid sh100, 000 monthly as an allowance. They will also be provided with backpack bags, thermometers, sanitizers, soap, face masks, gumboots, uniforms, smartphones, umbrellas and rapid test kits. 

Omaswa, who is also the Executive Director of the African Centre for Global Health and Social Transformation (ACHEST), said the strategy will ensure that the communities are mobilized, are aware and are taking ownership for personal responsibility in implementing the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) against COVID-19. 

Dr Joyce Kaducu, the Minister of State for Primary Healthcare, said the strategy is targeting the community and households. It's empowering the households to be responsible and accountable for their health. 

"It (CES) addresses the long-held vision of the ministry of health and Government which is aimed at establishing a strong people-centred and integrated community health and primary health program in the country," she noted. 

She also observed that the introduction of payment for one community health worker in every village will mark a new beginning for the VHTs who have since 2000 been rendering unpaid service to the communities. 

"Todays' launch of the community engagement strategy is going to make a new beginning for VHTs because the government has now decided and committed to ensuring VHTs in each village receives an allowance to enable them to get committed and allocate time to work for the communities," she stated. 

The launch was attended by development partners, Ministry of health officials, government ministers and members of the CES sub-committee.  The WHO country representative, Dr Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam and the CDC country director, Dr Lisa Nelson, were also in attendance. 

Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Muheesi, the chairperson of the Technical Inter-Sectoral Committee (TISC) under which the CES sub-committee falls, said the strategy is being launched at a time when the fight against COVID-19 is still raging on. 

"The fight against COVID-19 is about education and enforcement and that is what we are doing in launching this strategy," he said. 

He noted that in the current situation, where the virus is widespread, the vanguard of enforcement will be the village COVID-19 taskforces.