Minister of Health, Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda, has expressed concern over the country’s response and preparedness capacities saying it still faces challenges despite strides made in building leadership and coordination of public health activities.
She was speaking at Capital Hill in Lilongwe on Wednesday during the launch of the Malawi Health Emergency Preparedness Response and Resilience (HEPRR).
She described the program as a timely intervention designed to enhance health system resilience and multi-preparedness sectoral approach.
“This project will address existing gaps through essential interventions that bolster our technical capacities, financial mechanisms and workforce capabilities,” she said.
She said gender gaps have also contributed to disparities that weaken emergency responses making women have less access to services and a higher disease burden than men.
The project, whose objective is to strengthen health system resilience and multisectoral preparedness and response to health emergencies in Malawi, aims to increase regional, national and sub-national capacity and resilience to proactively prevent, detect and mitigate health emergencies.
