The US ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee, said the US Agency for International Development (USAID) had released the additional package of emergency supplies for malaria, measles and essential drugs to support Zimbabwe’s failing health systems.

USAID gave US$1.7 million for the expansion of Zimbabwe’s medical supply logistics system, ensuring that drugs and commodities are properly coordinated, managed, and reach the intended beneficiaries.

An additional US$200,000 for malaria prevention would enable the Ministry of Health’s national mosquito spraying programme to complete its mission this season.

The indoor residual spraying programme would prevent malaria among more than two million Zimbabweans living in high-risk districts.

USAID also gave US$300,000 for the national measles vaccination campaign, targeting 1.7 million children below five years old.

“The United States of America will continue to support life-saving assistance programmes for the Zimbabwean people,” said McGee.

The envoy said a cholera outbreak that claimed more than 4,000 lives since August 2008 was one of the symptoms of a much larger, systemic failure of the health system which needed to be addressed.

The US support to the medical supply and logistics system would assist Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health to coordinate the procurement and storage of drugs and health commodities as well as the distribution of the medicines and collection of data to enable managers to properly forecast requirements.

Source: APA