At least six children in Swaziland died this week from
diarrhoea and many more are sick because the government is broke and cannot pay
for vaccines.
It would cost US$6 for the vaccine to immunise a
child.
The Times
of Swaziland reported on Friday
(14 September 2018) there is currently an outbreak
of diarrhoea, mainly in the Shiselweni and Hhohho regions.
The newspaper quoted sources in the health sector. ‘They said so far, the most affected area was
Nhlangano, where a total of six children under the age of five died from the
disease from last Wednesday at the Nhlangano Health Centre, while 13 were
admitted to the same facility.’
The Times
reported, ‘A number of children under
the same age group were treated and discharged at the health facility because
the wards were already full.’
It added, ‘Furthermore, the
impeccable sources revealed that recently, medical practitioners at the Mbabane
Government Hospital noted an increase in the number of children with diarrhoea.
However, they said no statistics were released so far.’
The Times said, ‘Dr Simon Zwane, the Principal Secretary (PS) in the
Ministry of Health, confirmed the outbreak of the deadly, but preventable
disease.’
In Swaziland (recently
renamed Eswatini by absolute monarch King Mswati III) diarrhoea is rated among the top three causes of
mortality especially amongst children under five years of age. In
2014 at least 40 children died
during an outbreak. Hundreds were hospitalised and more than 3,000 cases were
recorded.
The Times reported the current outbreak came, ‘in the wake of the
economic difficulties which led to a health crisis’.
According to the website
of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, a 25-pack of one dose vials of rotavirus vaccine
to immunise against diarrhoea costs US70.49 (E1,035) at commercial rates.
Typically a child needs two doses to be immunised.
Medicines of all sorts have
run out in public hospitals and health clinics across Swaziland because the
Swazi Government failed to pay suppliers. Nurses
have been protesting to draw attention to the crisis.
In July 2018 it was
reported that Swazipharm, Swaziland’s largest distributor of pharmaceutical
products and medical equipment to the healthcare system in the kingdom,
could not buy new stocks
because the Ministry of Health had not paid its bill. Swazipharm Sales and
Marketing Manager Cindy Stankoczi confirmed it had cut the supply of drugs to
local health institutions.
Long before Swazipharm’s
announcement medicines, including vaccines against polio and tuberculosis had run out in many government hospitals and
clinics because drug suppliers had not been paid. In June 2017, Senator Prince
Kekela told parliament that at least five people had died as a result of the
drug shortages. About US$18
million was reportedly owed
to drug companies in May 2017.
In June 2018 it was
revealed there were only
12 working public ambulances in the whole of Swaziland to serve 1.1
million people because the government failed to maintain them. It had bought no
new ambulances since 2013.
In his budget
speech in March 2018 Finance
Minister Martin Dlamini said Government owed E3.1bn (US$230 million) in total
to its suppliers for goods and services.
In June 2018 it was reported that children
collapsed with hunger in their school because the government had not
paid for food for them. The kingdom had previously been warned to expect
children to starve because the government had not paid its suppliers
for the food that is distributed free of charge at schools. The shortage was
reported to be widespread across the kingdom.
Meanwhile, King Mswati III
who rules Swaziland as one of the world’s last absolute monarchs wore
a watch
worth US$1.6 million and a suit
beaded with diamonds weighing 6 kg, at his 50th birthday
party in April. Days earlier he took delivery of his second private jet, a A340
Airbus, that after VIP upgrades
reportedly cost US$30 million. He received E15 million (US$1.2
million) in cheques, a
gold dining room suite and a gold
lounge suite among his birthday gifts.
Seven in ten of Swaziland’s
1.1 million population live in abject poverty with incomes less than the
equivalent of US$2 per day. The King has 13 palaces. He also owns
fleets of top-of-the range Mercedes and BMW cars. His family regularly travel
the world on shopping
trips spending millions of dollars each time.
See also
Swaziland Nurses Picket, Drugs Run Out, Lives Put
at Risk as Government Fails to Pay Suppliers
Medicine
Shortage: Five Die
Swazi King Parties While Children Die
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/08/swazi-king-parties-while-children-die.html
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