LREB Covid-19 Response

USAID DONATES FOUR VENTILATORS TO BUSIA REFERRAL HOSPITAL

The Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB) advisory committee on COVID-19, Dr. Amin Ali , Mr. Henry Bwire and Ms. Patricia Ondari together with the members of the secretariat Dr. Rosemary Obara, Easter Okello and Fredrick Ajok this morning attended an event held by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) at Busia Referral Hospital in Busia County to officiate donation of 4 ventilators.
The donation of the Ventilators is done in bid to help Busia County in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic which is currently spreading to the communities.
Busia Deputy Governor, Hon. Moses Mulema expressed his appreciation to USAID for the kind donation which will see a boost in the war against the virus.
Hon. Mulema disclosed that the County is facing challenges in the war against Covid-19 including its strategic location at the border and movements due to trade activities which he says accelerates the spread of the disease.
To manage this however, he added that they are currently doing massive mass testing of truck drivers, prisoners and also have set a side a team going round to sensitise the general public on the preventive measures.
"We are worried about the festivities that are soon approaching and the opening of schools in January which is likely to spike the spread of the disease. We are therefore appealing to everyone to stay at home and avoid unnecessary travelling" said the Deputy Governor.
Ms. Cicilia Amahaya the USAID representative said that they are working with county leaders to ensure seamless distribution of the 200 ventilators to health facilities within the country.
Ms. Amahaya also added that training has been done to the health officials on how to operate the ventilators donated.
She appealed to the people to observe Covid-19 preventive measures during this holiday stating that the only way to curb the disease is by prevention.
Dr. Amin Ali thanked the USAID for the donation and also encouraged the Busia County residents to observe Covid-19 preventive measures and avoid travelling even as we get into the festive season.
Ms. Patricia Ondari on her side said that it was vital to initiate the idea of boreholes in schools to ensure that they have constant water supply as away of spurring the war against Covid-19.
End.

USAID DONATES VENTILATORS TO TENWEK HOSPITAL IN BOMET COUNTY
Members of the Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB) advisory committee on COVID-19, Shairoz Shamji and Dr. Paul Mitei, together with the members of the secretariat Ochieng Gumbo and Tracy Okeyo today attended an event held by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) at Tenwek hospital in Bomet County to officiate donation of ventilators.
The event witnessed a donation of 5 ventilators to the hospital which is part of the 200 ventilators being donated around the country by the USAID, 25 facilities have already benefited from this generosity and Tenwek hospital is one of the two faith based hospitals to have benefited from this donation.
Shem Cheruiyot, Chief Executive Officer, Tenwek Hospital was grateful for the partnership which had begun much earlier. He was delighted to be one of the beneficiary of the charitable gesture, "We are so grateful for these gifts and we want to assure you that we'll use them for the benefit of our patients," he said.
Speaking on COVID-19, Dr. Mitei emphasized on the committee's motto which is 'prevention is better than cure'. "A large number of us are asymptomatic and no amount of ventilators is going to stop COVID”, he said this while listing the rules and regulations set by World Health Organization (WHO) on prevention of COVID-19. Shairoz also talked about the adopt a school initiative whose launch is scheduled for Busia on Friday this week.
The event was also graced by Kenya Red Cross.

LREB COVID-19 advisory committee Secretariat and World Vision Kenya, today held a meeting to deliberate on ways of actualizing the MOU signed recently. The main aim is to accelerate the spread of COVID-19 and mitigate the negative socio-economic impacts of the pandemic.
The meeting identified the following key result areas for joint action;
1. Consistent advisory, advocacy and resource mobilization for safety and protection of school going children and the related community against COVID-19.
2. To catalyze the socio-economic recovery through interventions on livelihood and resilience.
3. Capacity building of the health system in prevention of COVID-19 infection especially at community level using community health strategy.
4. Support for disaster policy development and bill’s enactment at county level.
5. Monitoring, evaluation and research of the COVID-19 pandemic response in LREB.