The Contact Trust Youth Association (CTYA) has given out 65 Buffalo bicycles to community based volunteers (CBVs) in Kalomo district.
This is to ease their mobility for communication and social mobilization for immunization programmes in the district.
CYTA executive director Ronnie Jere says the donation is to provide enablers for the volunteers to be able to travel and reach hard areas in their respective catchment localities.
Mr Jere observes that there is need for collaboration by his organisation and the churches health association of Zambia (CHAZ) coming up with the bicycle donation.
Speaking through his finance and administration manager Patrick Mwami, the CYTA executive director said that this is because community based volunteers face many challenges in executing their duties due to the vastness of the remote areas they operate from.
And officiating at the handover ceremony, Kalomo District Commissioner Joshua Sikaduli thanked CYTA for the initiative aimed at improving community health services through the partnership and collaboration with CHAZ.
He adds that immunization is one of the most cost-effective public health interventions and plays a crucial role in reducing child mortality and achieving universal health coverage.
“The 258 zones and outreach posts in the district require innovative approaches to reach every child, particularly those in remote and underserved areas.
“So, this programme which is oriented towards addressing the needs of zero-dose and defaulting children aligns perfectly with our national goals of improving immunization coverage and reducing health disparities,” Mr. Sikaduli observes.
Mr. Sikaduli further adds that there are still gaps around the welfare of community based volunteers such as incentives, protective equipment, and identification tools but was haste to state that active seeking solutions to address these challenges are in place.
And passing a vote of thanks on behalf of the volunteers, Nelia Mwape of Magrimond zone thanked CYTA for its support to ensure that no child is left behind in the fight against vaccine preventable diseases.
She observes that the support from other partners such as CYTA is instrumental in bridging the gap between healthcare services and the communities they serve.
“These bicycles will ease our mobility and enhance our efficiency in reaching out to families, mapping defaulting and zero-dose children and ensuring that every child under five receives life-saving vaccines,” Ms. Mwape said.
CYTA also dished out identification T-shirts and bags to the community based volunteers in Kalomo.
And district health director Misheck Mukanzu says the bicycle donation to the volunteers would widen the immunization coverage in order to reach the recommended above 95 percent benchmark.
