Mozambique: Response to Covid-19 guided by evidence, says minister

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Mozambique: Response to Covid-19 guided by evidence, says minister

3:28 CAT | 17 Jun 2021

Photo: Noticias

The Mozambican authorities, according to Health Minister Armindo Tiago, are relying on the use of the available scientific evidence as their guiding light in responding to the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, in a context where the evolution of the disease is still shrouded in uncertainty.

Speaking on Wednesday in Maputo, at the opening of Mozambique’s second Scientific Conference on Covid-19, Tiago said the strategic actions designed by the government over the past 18 months show the importance given to scientific evidence as a crucial weapon in fighting the disease.

“Right from the start of the pandemic we prioritised the use of scientific evidence to guide our national response”, he added. “We prioritised the evidence and collective scientific discussion in preventing and fighting the pandemic”.

Among the key measures taken, he said, were the appointment by President Filipe Nyusi of a Technical and Scientific Commission to advise the government, the holding of epidemiological surveys in the main urban centres, to monitor the spread of Covid-19, and the adoption of a range of scientific indicators for the control of the disease.

“Our response has been based on the best scientific evidence available”, he continued. “But we also used the principles of proportionality and reasonableness in the prevention measures we took”.

This approach, said Tiago, allowed the executive to strike a balance between public health and the socio-economic condition of Mozambique.

The minister said the country has lived through two waves of transmission of the virus, and reacted by taking measures which delayed the peak of the infection, thus preventing the collapse of the fragile Mozambican health system.

“The containment measures taken were positive for controlling the circulation of the virus in the country”, he declared.

Source: AIM