
The Minister of Health and Social Services emphasized the need for the ministry to be proactive in responding to health challenges experienced in the country.
Dr. Esperance Luvindao was speaking at the launch of the National Event-Based Surveillance Guidelines in Windhoek.
The guidelines will strengthen Namibia's capacity for early detection, reporting, and response to public health events and outbreaks and avoid reactive responses to emerging health challenges in the country.
The guidelines address multifaceted challenges posed by health risks emerging from the interplay between animal, human, and environmental habitats.
"We currently face numerous issues, including malaria and cholera, and as we confront these, it is important for us, as I continue to mention to the executive team and our partners, that we take an approach that is preventative, decisive, and not reactive. This is very important. We don't want the Ministry of Health and Social Services to be reactive. We want to be proactive, and this is an example of our commitment to being proactive."
The Minister also mentioned the need to establish a Public Health Institute.
"There, I wish to emphasize this as close synergy with the ministry's ongoing efforts to establish the Namibia Public Health Institute. The Namibia Institute of Public Health will play a pivotal role in coordinating everything that we have mentioned today, as well as strengthening our surveillance systems. These efforts include better coordination between human and animal health surveillance activities and ensuring that we have a dedicated institute that is solely responsible for ensuring that the next time we ask the question of how prepared we are, we have a dedicated team ensuring that we are better prepared in the future."
The primary goal of the guidelines is to equip all stakeholders with the necessary tools to enhance capacities for early warning and detection of public health threats from the community level across all sectors.
The guidelines further build on the original Africa CDC framework for event-based surveillance published in 2018.
"The Africa CDC remains committed not only to development but will ensure that we will walk hand in hand with the governments of Namibia and their leadership to support its full operationalization, from capacity building and training to resource mobilization, to ensure that it is fully implemented."
Furthermore, the Event-Based Surveillance Guidelines will promptly detect signals to assess potential risks and facilitate a timely response to potential disease outbreaks in line with the national action plan for health security.