Paramount Chief Kaduya lauds women in fighting public health emergencies
Women in the country have been commended as strategic agents of change when it comes to combating public health emergencies like disease threats and outbreaks, saying they respond quickly to mitigating the impact.
This was said by Paramount chief Kaduya of Phalombe during the district launch of the COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign by the Applied Development Communication and Training Services (ADECOTS) at Phaloni community ground in Phalombe district where she presided over the event as a guest of honour.
She urged communities in Phalombe to be proactive in the fight against COVID-19 to ensure the well-being of their families, communities and the district, as a whole.
“I would like to take this opportunity to recommend women especially mothers for their courageous and proactive role in the fight against diseases threats and outbreaks like COVID-19, Cholera, Malaria, cervical cancer, and many others. They are always at the forefront to take action like getting the vaccine to protect themselves and their families. These massive contributions in the fight against health emergencies cannot go unnoticed,” said Kaduya.
According to Kaduya, every problem in our society, including health challenges, have a female face.
“Women are the ones who shoulder most burdens in the family when diseases like COVID-19 strike. For example, when a child or husband falls sick in the house, it is the woman who shoulders the burden. Therefore, I encourage women to continue to fight diseases in order to improve the well-being of their families,” said Kaduya.
The Paramount chief also urged men to support women for them to realize their full potential and participate in public life.
ADECOTS launched the COVID-19 vaccination campaign both in Phalombe and Thyolo districts in conjunction with the District Health Offices (DHOs) where multitudes of people were mobilized and hundreds got vaccinated.
Speaking during the campaign launch ADECOTS campaign manager Damiane Chisikwa emphasized on the need to debug myths and misconception on COVID-19 in order to win the fight against the outbreak.
He hinged the success of the campaign on effective community engagement and stakeholder coordination.
“Fight against COVID-19 requires multi-sectoral approach, including effective community engagement to ensure empowerment and active participation of the community members. As ADECOTS, we believe in working with different structures at the grassroots levels, including women and the youth, to systematically root out the causes of poor health seeking behaviours,” said Chisikwa.
ADECOTS is implementing the COVID-19 vaccination (Moyo Ndi Mpamba: Ndabaitsa) campaign in Phalombe and Thyolo districts with funding from the Access Challenge. The campaign seeks to debug the myths and misconception surrounding COVID-19 in order to promote behaviour change and increase the uptake of COVID-19 vaccine.
Elizabeth Sokonyera from Hapala village in the area of Traditional Authority Kaduya is one of the women who got the COVID-19 vaccine during the campaign and she attributed her decision to her love for her health.
“I care about my health and that of my family members that’s why I got the vaccine to be protected from the COVID-19. Everyone who cares about their health will always consider protection a priority,” said Sokonyera.