The World Health Organisation (WHO) Zimbabwe and UNICEF Zimbabwe Friday dismissed reports which suggested that the country had ejected them from its COVID-19 programmes.
In separate interviews with The Herald, the two United Nations’ country representatives Dr. Alex Gasasira (WHO) and Mrs. Laylee Moshiri (UNICEF) said their relationship with the government was very professional. Said Dr. Gasasira:
We have not received any communication from any part of Government asking us to stop the services we are providing, so we continue to provide these services.
Our relationship with the Government of Zimbabwe is a very professional relationship. As you may recall at different stages of this response, even before Covid-19 in all areas of health, Government has really closely followed the guidance that WHO has been providing to member States.
Mrs. Moshiri also said there was no communication from the government which suggested that their relationship had been terminated. She said:
.We have not received any communication to terminate any relationship whatsoever. We have not received any communication from the ministry asking us not to be involved in the Covid-19 vaccination efforts. We continue to work closely with the ministry and various pillars as well as other ministries in the Covid-19 response.
We have a close working relationship with a number of ministries which deal directly and indirectly with the children and the Ministry of Health and Child Care is one of our key ministries which we work very directly with on a daily basis on a number of areas, including the Covid-19 response.
I think there is a good (Covid-19) response and we continue to support it so that it caters for the existing circumstances.
Local publications had published suggesting that the two UN arms had been ejected from Zimbabwe’s COVID-19 programmes, a move that had shocked many.
Some observers had argued that the alleged move was probably because the country was flouting WHO regulations on COVID-19 vaccines which Zimbabwe started rolling out last week.
More: The Herald