HANDOVER CEREMONY OF HEALTH KITS FOR DISTRIBUTION TO HEALTH CENTERS IN ZAMBIA
2021/6/16
On 2nd June 2021, Mr. OMINATO Satoshi, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim of the Embassy of Japan in the Republic of Zambia, handed over an assortment of Health Kits to the Ministry of Health for distribution by the Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency (ZAMMSA) to various Health Centers offering free medical services in Zambia, under the auspices of the Government of Japan’s “Economic and Social Development Program.” The total cost for the kits is 300 million Japanese Yen or approximately 2.75 million United States Dollars.
Zambia has a total of 2,333 government health facilities dotted across the country, all offering free medical services. The provision of these health kits will help alleviate the shortage of essential drugs due to high disease burden, particularly for sexually transmitted diseases, opportunistic infections caused by HIV, pneumonia, malaria, and parasites which have for many years afflicted Zambia’s health sector.
The Government of Japan in partnership with Missionpharma Zambia, will continue to support the Government of the Republic of Zambia, through the provision of 4,190 Health Center Kits, adequate to fulfil the general medical needs of the country for a certain period of time.
In his remarks, Mr. OMINATO stressed that, as one of the main pillars of Japanese Grant aid projects, the assistance program will in the long run lead to the improvement of basic healthcare services in Zambia and subsequently contribute to the expansion of Universal Health Coverage, which Japan pledged to support at the 7th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7), held in Yokohama, Japan in August, 2019.
To read the speech by Mr. OMINATO at this ceremony, please click here.