Zimbabwe to convene a two-day Covid-19 national intra-action review meeting

By Wallace Mawire HARARE-Zimbabwe will on 14 to 15 December, 2021 convene an Covid-19 national intra-action review online meeting to provide an opportunity to share experiences and collectively analyse the on-going in-country response to Covid-19 by identifying challenges and best practices amongst the different sub-committes. Covid-19 National Taskforce Coordinator, Dr Agnes Mahomva confirmed that the national sub-committee reviews are being conducted after a period of 12 months. Other objectives of the review meeting include facilitating consensus building and the compiling of lessons learnt by various stakeholders during the response to improve the current response by sustaining or institutionalizing best practices and addressing persistent challenges, documenting and applying lessons learnt from the response efforts to date to facilitate health system strengthening and the intersectoral contribution to the response and providing a basis to update the country Covid-19 intersectoral operational preparedness and response plan. It is also reported that the meeting will include the whole of government and whole of Society from the public and the private sector. According to a statement the online meeting has been opted for in view in view of the escalating number of new cases of Covid-19. The meeting will focus on the National Response Strategy and the scope to be presented by Dr Mahomva. It will also deliberate on the evolution of Covid-19 in Zimbabwe from the government’s perspective. Presentations will also be on the Intra Action Review (IAR) findings with respect to achievements, challenges, proposed actions and recommendations. The Public Health Strategy Pillars under focus include country-level coordination, planning and monitoring, risk communication, community engagement, and infodemic management, surveillance, case investigation and contact tracing and research, points of entry, national laboratory system, infection prevention and control, case management and knowledge sharing about innovation and the latest research, operational support and logistics in the management of supply chains and workforce resilience, strengthening essential health services during the Covid-19 outbreak and Covid-19 vaccination. The Sub Committees to participate in the national meeting include Food and Water Sustainability, Information and Risk Communication, Education, Materials Production, Law and Order including Transport, Logistics and Command Centre. Other thematic areas include resource mapping and expenditure tracking, gender equity and human rights.