SWAKOPMUND - A German company, Blueplanet Investment, will tackle Hepatitis E through a pilot project that will be launched in the Democratic Resettlement Community (DRC) in Swakopmund, with environmentally friendly products they produce in Frankfurt.
A team from the company’s Ecabiotic division accompanied by the former minister of health, Dr Bernard Haufiku and the ministry’s epidemiologist, Dr Lilliane Kahuika, yesterday visited DRC to see how best the pilot project can be implemented and rolled out to address the dreadful disease.
CEO of the company, Alexander Lattmann, said Ecabiotec is a producer of mineral, eco-friendly and non-toxic disinfectant solutions that can even be eaten.
“Our solutions eliminate microorganisms like germs, spores, bacteria, viruses and fungi as well as all oxidisable hormone- and antibiotic residues completely without the possible development of resistance, ” he said.
According to Lattmann, they have a self-developed technology (electro-chemical activation low ion transfer) that enables the controlled production of a scalable range of active agents with previously unknown properties.
“A potent, efficient and widely applicable active substance emerges, which can be used absolutely environmentally friendly and sustainable in most diverse ambits of the drinking water, process water, surface and air disinfection.”
He says these products are made out of salt and are non-toxic, as they can be used for disinfecting eyes and can be consumed.
Morocco, Germany and EU countries are using their products.
Haufiku said he recently visited the company’s factory while in Germany and he was impressed with the environmentally friendly products.
“Hence, I requested for assistance due to the challenge we face with hepatitis,” Haufiku said.
According to Haufiku, they have not yet worked in Africa, hence they offered to come to Namibia at their own cost to assess the situation and came up with a tailormade response.
“They are doing it at their own cost and we will look at how best we can continue once the pilot project succeeds in DRC and roll it out to other regions,” he said.
Kahuika also said hepatitis remains a challenge in Namibia, as the current number of confirmed cases stands at 5 094.
“This is from a mere nine cases with which the outbreak started and we are grateful for the willingness of Ecabiotic and Blueplanet to help Namibia in addressing Hepatitis E,” she said.