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Covid-19 vaccines give battered Victoria Falls new hope

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BY FARAI MUTSAKA

Victoria Falls usually teems with tourists who come to marvel at the roaring Zambezi River as it tumbles down more than 108 meters to the gorge below, sending up a mist that is visible from miles away.

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“The Smoke That Thunders” – the English translation of what the waterfall is called in the Sotho language – is still mighty, but the Covid-19 pandemic has reduced visitors to a trickle.

Ordinarily, Victoria Falls attracts 350,000 tourists a year, but their numbers have dropped to almost none as a result of travel restrictions.

Hotel occupancy rates fell into the single digits during 2020 and the first half of 2021, and some hotels were forced to close, according to the Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe.

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To promote Victoria Falls as a safe destination, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government has made vaccines available to all 35,000 residents of the town that shares a name with the waterfall.

An estimated 60% of the people there have been vaccinated with either the Sinopharm or Sinovac vaccines, both from China.

Although tourists have not returned in large numbers, Victoria Falls mostly has been spared the current wave of Covid-19 that has swept across the rest of Zimbabwe and southern Africa, which health officials attribute to the town’s relatively high level of vaccinations.

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Nationwide, over 1.8 million people, slightly more than 12% of Zimbabwe’s population, have received a first dose, while more than 900,000 people are fully vaccinated with two doses.

On the strength of the vaccination rate in Victoria Falls, the government recently reopened two land borders that link the town to the neighboring countries of Zambia, Namibia and Botswana.

Travelers with proof of vaccination and a negative Covid-19 test will be permitted entry.

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Victoria Falls was where Zimbabwe recorded its first Covid-19 case in March 2020, likely because of its high number of international visitors.

A year later, at a time where only medical workers and other essential workers were eligible for vaccines, shots were made available for all of the town’s residents age 18 and older.

All adult Zimbabweans are now eligible, but because of widespread supply shortages, the lines for jabs are long and many people are disappointed.

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Restaurants in Victoria Falls are allowed to serve sit-in customers – something that is forbidden in the rest of Zimbabwe, which still has tight restrictions as a result of the current surge driven by the delta variant of the coronavirus.

Close to 90 percent of Covid-19 hospitalisations and deaths in the current surge are of unvaccinated people, according to a recent report by the Ministry of Health.

Although planeloads of tourists have not yet returned, the reopening of Victoria Falls was a relief for a town that survives on tourism, Anald Musonza, the regional chairman of the Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe, told The Associated Press.

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“We had been waiting for this for a long time,” Musonza said. “This will help us retain some jobs that were lost due to the pandemic.”

Tourism, together with mining and agriculture, is a key anchor of Zimbabwe’s fragile economy.

Mass vaccinations could help open up tourist destinations countrywide, said Tinashe Farawo, a spokesperson for the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.

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The loss of tourism revenue has hurt the authority’s ability to operate.

“Victoria Falls is testimony of what vaccines can do,” he said. “It’s good for us.

“It’s good for wildlife because now we can raise money to deploy our rangers and fund other critical operations.” – AP

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In the community

Zambia Limits Worship Time To Two Hours To Curb Cholera

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BY AFRICANEWS

Churches across Zambia have received a mandate to restrict worship sessions to a maximum of two hours.

The directive, issued by Ndiwa Mutelo, a high-ranking official overseeing religious affairs, also prohibits the sale of perishable and ready-to-eat foods within church premises.

To further minimize the risk of disease transmission, worshippers are strongly advised to refrain from handshakes and hugs. In an official statement, Mr. Mutelo emphasized the importance of maintaining hygiene within worship centers.

Churches are now required to provide safe drinking water, designated hand washing points, and make available alcohol-based hand sanitizers to their congregants.

 

The urgency of these measures is underscored by the significant cholera outbreak in Zambia, with more than 7,800 reported cases since last October. Over the past 24 hours alone, the health ministry has recorded over 400 new cases and 18 fatalities.

This latest intervention aims to mitigate the impact of the cholera epidemic, emphasizing the collective responsibility of religious institutions in safeguarding public health.

SOURCE: AFRICANEWS

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Lubangwe villagers walk over 30KM to access nearest clinic

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BY LWANDLE MTHUNZI

Access to primary healthcare remains a major challenge to communities in Lubangwe resettlement area in Hwange where the nearest clinic is more than 30km away for some.

Lubangwe Railway Farm 55 resettlement was established in 2000 during the country’s land reform when scores of villagers, mostly families of war veterans, were settled in the area.

Government did not construct schools and clinics and old farm buildings were converted into learning facilities.

While some schools are now available as a result, although far away from some villages, the communities remain with no health facility which makes access to health a major challenge.

The worst affected are pregnant women and people living with chronic diseases such as HIV and TB who have to regularly get their monthly allocation of life saving tablets.

Edwin Nyoni, head of village 1 said had it not been for village health workers mortality could be high for people with chronic illnesses.

“We don’t have a clinic and people walk 25km to 30km to Ndlovu clinic because most have no money for transport. We risk our lives through the wildlife infested bush to Ndlovu hence we appeal to the government to help us establish a clinic nearby. We have village health workers who assist to reduce mortality and prevent home deliveries by making sure pregnant women and the chronically ill are assisted to go to hospital,” he said.

In village 2 villagers are patiently waiting for the opening of a clinic after a building was identified for use as a health facility.

The structure has no electricity and water, said village head Joseph Munsaka.

“They promised to bring some nurses to use a building that is lying idle. They said they want to connect water and electricity and we hope this will happen soon to save lives,” he said.

Gilbert Munkuli said sometimes health authorities visit with a mobile clinic at the nearby Nyongolo primary school.

He said some of his villagers walk more than 30km because they have no money for transport making access to health difficult.

“It is more than 30km to go to Ndlovu Clinic and health workers sometimes come to Nyongolo Primary School to give tablets especially to the chronically ill. Those with money sometimes hire cars but some die at home or fail to go to hospital which worsens the burden of diseases such as TB,” he said.

Because of proximity to Hwange coal mining town where most people in Hwange worked at the Hwange Colliery Company, the burden of TB is high around the district as many families have lived in Hwange town at some stage before retiring to the rural areas.

Nesi Mpala of village 2 appealed to the government to open a clinic to save chronically ill community members.

“The clinic is far and people who seek medical attention suffer, with pregnant women and those with chronic diseases the worst affected. People living with HIV and Aids are better because health workers come to give them tablets but those with TB have to go to the clinic and struggle to travel because transport is expensive. We wish the government can give us a mobile clinic so that TB patients and pregnant women get help,” said Mpala.

Government is working on a national health policy whose vision is to ensure primary health care is accessible to all communities although the plan has been in the pipeline for many years.

Health is a critical human right and key to attainment of Sustainable Development Goals.

 

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VFWT partners with Mvuthu villagers to tackle human-wildlife conflicts

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BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI

The Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust (VFWT) has announced that they have secured funding to work with the communities of the new scheme of herding cattle, amid growing concerns of human-wildlife conflicts in the Mvuthu’s jurisdiction.

This was announced by the VFWT Community Liaison officer Bongani Dlodlo on Tuesday at a village assembly meeting in the Mvuthu area.

He said the scheme aims to reduce the continuous attack of the domestic animals, mainly the cattle by predators such as the lions.

 

The organisation will actively involved in various environmental issues in the area, including the introduction of mobile bomas years ago, making of chill dung to deter elephants among other rehabilitation projects.

“This will be a programme to run for three years, where we are going to create mobile kraals where the whole village, those who are willing will bring their cattle there and we will hire some willing community members above 22 years of age to look after them during the day and night,” Dlodlo said.

“We are trying to reduce the problem of your livestock getting killed and while under this scheme, we shall ensure that they get treated whenever they present some symptoms of not being well and we will also vaccinate and feed them so that they can increase the value in the market whenever you want to dispose of some of them.”

Dlodlo also added that this will be done throughout the year.

“During the off-cropping season, we will be rotating them from one field to the other so that we also mitigate the issue of poor soils this community is faced with. By this, we hope that even your yield will improve for these coming years.”

Although some at the meeting met with skepticism, Dlodlo insisted that the villagers were not under duress to let go of their cattle and that the preparatory planning and strategies to be adopted were going to be done together with the communities.

Fears were around the issue of religious beliefs around the rearing of livestock.

Other concerns were around the issue of having to walk long distances to milk cows and even having them to perform some day to day chores such as the fetching of firewood.

According to the Zimbabwe Environmental Lawyers, cases of human-wildlife conflicts have been increasing since 2016 by over 216 percent and Mvuthu villagers have often paid the price without compensation.

Others also queried about what will happen if their livestock gets attacked while with the hired herders and Dlodlo responded: “We will not be paying for any compensation because ours to try and help this community, but because the herders and the place of herding will be chosen by you, we hope that this will be a holistic community project where you can always check on what is happening as we work together.”

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