Full Programme Details
Zimbabwe Association of Church-Related Hospitals (ZACH) with support from the U.S. Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) supported efforts by the Government of Zimbabwe to improve COVID-19 vaccination coverage in Mashonaland East Province contributing 53.5 % of the vaccinations conducted in the 4 districts whilst the remaining 46.5 % has been contributed by MoHCC static sites, outreaches and other partners.
Mashonaland East Province has a population of approximately 1.35 million and an area of 32.230 km2. The province is divided into nine districts, namely Chikomba, Goromonzi, Marondera, Mudzi, Murehwa, Mutoko, Seke, Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe (UMP), and Wedza. There are a total of 230 healthcare facilities, hospitals, and clinics included. The province has several schools, colleges, farms, and mines that will facilitate easy mobilization for COVID-19 vaccine access. The support included:
Communication and demand creation support
Human resource support
Transport support
Outreach/ mobile vaccination support
Commodity supplies support
M&E support
ZACH also supported the Ministry of Health and Child Care to further strengthen the integration of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (VPD) surveillance in Zimbabwe by cascading integrated VPD surveillance training to community health workers and supporting community-level case definitions and the transportation of VPD samples to the national laboratory. The integrated training will cover all VPD surveillance, including Polio, Measles, and Neonatal Tetanus. The objectives are as follows.
To strengthen community health workers’ knowledge and skills in the identification of VPDs surveillance cases
To provide the appropriate tools for use by community health workers in VPD surveillance
To strengthen referral of potential VPD surveillance cases to health facilities by community health workers
To improve the timely shipment of VPDs surveillance samples to the national laboratory