The Sunday News
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Gwanda Correspondent
A NON-GOVERNMENTAL organisation, Amalima has donated 75 bicycles to village health workers in 13 wards in Gwanda District as part of efforts to ease transport challenges they have been facing in conducting their work.
Speaking during the handover of the bicycles on Friday in Gwanda, Amalima Gwanda district field co-ordinator, Mr Absalom Ncube said the bicycles would also help the healthcare workers in conducting their work in the spate of the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic. He said as an organisation they were committed to assisting Government in the fight against Covid-19.
“As Amalima we are wrapping up our seven-year programme that we have been conducting in four districts in two provinces which are namely Gwanda, Bulilima, Mangwe in Matabeleland South and Tsholotsho in Matabeleland North. As we leave, we realised that there was a huge gap when it comes to transportation of village health workers as they have to cover a lot of ground while walking on foot.
“Working with the World Bicycle Relief we then sourced 75 bicycles for the village health workers which we are handing over to the Ministry of Health and Child Care today. As Amalima we have also worked with village health workers as volunteers and we have seen the valuable work they are doing in various communities. With the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic the health care workers have played a pivotal role in educating communities on the pandemic and with these bicycles we believe they will manage to do their work more efficiently,” he said.
Mr Ncube said the bicycles would be distributed in 13 wards in Gwanda District where Amalima has been operating. He said the organisation has been working with more than 2 000 volunteers in the four districts.
He said as the organisation was wrapping up operations, the projects they had implemented would be maintained and remain viable.
“As Amalima our main focus was on three strategic areas which are agriculture and livestock, resilience and nutritional health and WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene). We have been working with Government through various ministries and departments to meet these strategic areas,” he said.
Also speaking during the handover ceremony on behalf of acting District Medical Officer, Dr Blessed Gwarimbo, Dr Elton Ndlovu, a medical practitioner at the Gwanda Provincial Hospital said the donation from Amalima had come at a critical time considering the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic.
He said village health workers were critical to the ministry as they were a link with the communities. Dr Ndlovu said health surveillance by village health workers would now be conducted timeously. A village health worker from Mtshabezi in Ward 6, Mrs Juliet Mwindisi said she had to travel a distance of about eight kilometres to reach the furthest point in the village. She said the bicycle will go a long way in assisting her to conduct her work easily. She said she has been a village health worker for the past 20 years and remained committed towards disseminating health related information. @DubeMatutu
