Speeches Shim
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Karabo-ea-Bophelo (KB) project in Lesotho remains committed to continuing essential HIV prevention and treatment services for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVCs) and their caregivers, while maintaining a safe healthcare environment for KB staff. In order to meet this commitment, HIV services were adapted to virtual programming, where participants were reached using Radio, TV, SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter. Additionally, caseworkers and social workers started calling participants on the phone where children could be exposed to social and economic challenges.
The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has declared 2020 the Year of Plant Health. To mark the occasion, the Feed the Future Southern Africa Seed Trade Project (Seed Trade Project) is celebrating the most critical of all farm inputs in agricultural production, the key to increased productivity – the seed.
Countries around the world have been under lockdown for weeks to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Lesotho is no exception. However, even in times of restricted movement, USAID’s projects funded through the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) have been working non-stop to ensure that clients are well informed about available health services available for continuity of care.
The U.S. government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is donating up to 1000 much-needed ventilators and accompanying equipment to South Africa to assist with its national response to COVID-19. Ventilators are highly specialized medical equipment used in intensive care units. These are used to support individuals whose lungs are not working adequately despite receiving oxygen. In such individuals, ventilators may be life-saving. As a subset of individuals with COVID-19 become critically ill, intensive care support such as the use of ventilators are an essential part of these patients' treatment to assist them in breathing as they recover.
Liziwe Gece is one of two Eastern Cape provincial coordinators for USAID’s Tuberculosis South Africa Project. She works in the O.R. Tambo district to bring information and much-needed assistance to the district’s health care system so those affected by TB and HIV have access to effective treatment.
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