Health around the week

The Ministry of Health is seeking for change in its human resource capital as part of the ongoing restructuring in public sector. Aim is to shift from relying on project funding for staff salaries to a new payment approach that uses internally generated revenue. According to a statement from the ministry, the recent reduction of budget for human resources across the health sector has pushed health facilities to revisit their staffing capacity and competencies to ensure that available resources are best put to use to meet daily operations of the health facilities and guarantee sustainability. Unfortunately, the ministry blames the rising rate of malaria incidences in the country on substandard bed nets that were procured in 2013 from Net protect, a firm based in Denmark. Speaking at a news conference in Kigali last week, the Minister for Health, Dr Agnes Binagwaho, said three million mosquito nets currently in use within the country are less efficient and lack enough medicine to kill mosquitoes. Dr Binagwaho explained that the World Health Organisation had certified the bed nets that Netprotect supplied but later due to a high increase of malaria cases, the ministry carried out its own study that revealed the inefficiency of the bed nets. As government works on replacing the faulty nets, the ministry recently distributed 900,000 genuine nets and will be issuing more two million next month. Meanwhile, authorities in Southern Province are conducting a three-month campaign that seeks to promote hygiene and sanitation. Among many issues, the campaign targets fighting jiggers, which are affecting a few people in the province. Health officials say the infestation is mainly a result of unhygienic conditions and lack of proper sanitation, both on the body and at home. The parasitic insect lives in soil and feeds on warm-blooded hosts, such as humans, cattle, sheep, and dogs. Meanwhile, Operation Smile, a non-profit volunteer medial organisation, has said it is increasing the number of times it operates in the country to four times a year to increase coverage of cleft lip surgery and training to health professions. The team arrives next week for February round of cleft lip surgeries. Elsewhere, figures from the United Nations indicate that Sierra Leone and Guinea have both recorded the lowest weekly total of confirmed Ebola cases since August. Elsewhere, figures from the UN indicate that Sierra Leone and Guinea have both recorded the lowest weekly total of confirmed Ebola cases since August. Liberia, which reported no new cases on two days in the second week of this month, had its lowest weekly total since June. The death toll fk has reached 8,429 with 21,296 cases so far.