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“Consider women, girls in Covid-19 response”

26 Jul, 2020 - 00:07 0 Views
“Consider women, girls in Covid-19 response”

The Sunday Mail

Fatima Bulla-Musakwa
Gender and Community Editor

AFRICAN First Ladies believe girls and women have to be protected from abuse and gender-based violence (GBV) as countries try to coordinate effective responses against the Covid-19 pandemic.

A spike in GBV cases has become a cause for concern since most countries went into lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus.

The matter was tabled at a high-level webinar last week organised by the Organisation of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD) in collaboration with the Global Fund.

The webinar ran under the theme “The health and social-economic impacts of Covid 19 on achieving universal health coverage”.

Chairing the meeting, First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, who is the vice president of OAFLAD, noted how the pandemic had affected health systems, society, culture and the economy in a short period of time.

She said while the country’s national lockdown, which began on March 30, had helped slow the spread of the novel virus, it also inadvertently resulted in some communities struggling to access essential services such as healthcare.

“An increase in sexual and gender-based violence has been recorded in the country since the advent of Covid-19, with statistics showing a 70 percent increase in GBV reports compared to pre-Covid 19 lockdown trends,” Amai Mnangagwa said.

“In my interactions with the vulnerable communities and the elderly, I have been advocating against gender-based violence, which has increased during the period of the Covid-19 lockdowns.

“I have also roped in traditional chiefs and religious leaders to be strong advocates against gender-based violence.”

The First Lady also highlighted that she had stepped up efforts through her charity organisation, Angel of Hope Foundation, to sensitise rural communities, including the elderly, on Covid-19.

“I am doing this through enhanced education and awareness programmes that emphasise on practicing hand hygiene, social distancing, cough etiquette and use of face masks.

“At the same time, I have been distributing an assortment of hand sanitisers and personal hygiene kits for use by vulnerable adolescent girls and young women who can’t afford to buy pads on a monthly basis.

“Recognising the hardships that have befallen families, especially the elderly, due to the socio-economic impact Covid-19, I have been moving to the rural and hard-to-reach areas in the country donating food baskets to alleviate hunger,” Amai Mnangagwa said.

She also said she hoped response efforts to Covid-19 would strengthen the country’s health systems in line with the target to achieve universal health coverage by 2030.

Botswana First Lady Neo Jane Masisi said restrictions meant to combat the disease had spawned a shadow pandemic that has disproportionately affected women and girls.

She said the difficult economic environment that had been created by lockdowns had undercut the economic independence of women and made them dependent on their abusers, with whom they have to spend most of their time with owing to the obtaining circumstances.

“It is imperative that we draw lessons from the pandemics that hit the continent before. Mistakes made during these epidemics are valuable lessons in the Covid-19 response.

“To this end, our continent must ensure the protection of women and girls right from the beginning. On this note, women and girls must be part of the response plans from development to delivery of services,” Mrs Masisi said.

Namibia’s First Lady Mrs Monica Geingos said it was important to continuously speak hope while also strengthening institutions that are providing services to combat the pandemic.

“Institutions also need the strengthening and resilience of people, because at the end of the day, it is people, healthcare workers, police offi…

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