The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the Mastercard Foundation started an in-country implementation of the Saving Lives and Livelihoods initiative in Namibia to accelerate vaccination against Covid-19.
The Saving Lives and Livelihoods initiative as well as the health ministry have planned a target of 27 new vaccination centres while strengthening 70 Covid-19 vaccination centres and vaccinating more than 800 000 within 12 months in the selected sites.
A total of US$2million of the fund has been provided to kick start the first year of implementation in Namibia.
The Africa CDC Saving Lives and Livelihoods initiative is a US$1.5bn partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, which was launched in June 2021 to purchase Covid-19 vaccines for at least 65 million people and support the delivery to millions across the continent.
“The initiative will synergise the efforts of the government, Africa CDC, and other partners in increasing the Covid-19 vaccine uptake. The implementation campaign will focus on risk communication and community engagement (RCCE), vaccine capacity, logistics and vaccine surveillance to enable Namibia to reach its Covid-19 vaccination target,” said Dr Lul Pout Riek of the Africa CDC Southern Africa Regional Coordinating Centre.
He said the ultimate goal of Africa CDC, through the Saving Lives and Livelihoods programme, is to accelerate 70% vaccine coverage of the African population by the end of 2022.
Riek said: This mass vaccination campaign in Namibia aims to ensure Covid-19 vaccination efforts are integrated with childhood vaccinations, leading to the protection of the communities from the impacts of Covid-19 and childhood vaccine-preventable diseases.
In the latest Covid-19 update, health minister Dr Kalumbi Shangula said by 3 August 2022, 469 842 Namibians are fully vaccinated, translating to 26.4% of the total target population of 1 779 271.
– psiririka@nepc.com.na