U.S. Delivers Supplies and Equipment to Support Zanzibar’s Pandemic Response

ADF STAFF

The U.S. government has delivered $400,000 worth of medical and sanitation supplies to Zanzibar to support its COVID-19 response.

The shipment included respiratory equipment such as pulse oximeters, which estimate a person’s pulse and the oxygen saturation of their blood; pediatric and adult nasal cannulas, which deliver supplemental oxygen or increased airflow to a patient; masks; backpack disinfectant sprayers; and biohazard disposal bags.

“We believe in partnership relations that deliver quality health care to the general population,” Dr. Abdullah S. Ali, director-general of the Ministry of Health Social Welfare, Elderly, Gender and Children, said as the items were delivered. “The consignment of medical supplies received will fill the existing gaps in the reduction of the burden associated with the COVID-19 threat in terms of mortality, morbidity and hospitalizations.”

Over the past year, the U.S. has donated $16.4 million to Tanzania’s COVID-19 response. U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania Donald Wright said the U.S. is committed to working with all branches of Tanzania’s health sector. Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous group of islands that, since 1964, has formed a political union with Tanzania.

Wright applauded the new direction taken by President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who has pledged to launch a COVID-19 task force and “provide science-based advice on how to respond effectively.”

Hassan took over for the late President John Magufuli, a staunch COVID-19 skeptic, who died in March. Magufuli once claimed the country had eradicated the virus through three days of prayer, The Associated Press reported. He also opposed mask wearing and social distancing and advocated the use of steam therapies to treat the disease.

Wright said U.S. officials hope Hassan’s task force will include a “a review of the evidence of vaccines” and a “commitment to enhanced reporting and data sharing.”

Hassan’s approach to the pandemic has been radically different from Magufuli’s. She said the task force of health experts would analyze global opinion on COVID-19 to inform decisions about treatments and policies.

“It is not proper to ignore” COVID-19, Hassan said in an Al-Jazeera report. “We cannot reject or accept it without any evidence from research. “They [experts] will tell us more about the pandemic and advise us about what the world is proposing. We cannot accept everything as it comes, but we also cannot isolate ourselves as an island while the world is moving in a different direction.”

Previous U.S. donations to Tanzania have included COVID-19 relief funds to strengthen laboratory capacity for optimal diagnostics,  risk communications, water and sanitation, the prevention and control of infections, and public health communications.