NIP could lose SOE status

Health minister Bernard Haufiku has requested that the Namibia Institute of Pathology (NIP) be transformed from a parastatal into a department.

He said NIP should be changed to a department providing laboratory services under the auspices of the soon-to-be established Namibia Institute of Public Health (NIPH).

He said the NIPH itself shall not be a state-owned enterprise (SOE).

Haufiku was speaking during his budget motivation in the National Assembly and also gave an update on disease outbreaks that Namibia experienced during the 2017/18 financial year.

He said it is only by having a stronger and more resilient national disease surveillance system that Namibia will solve or at least mitigate future problems.

“This is why I call upon this August House to support our efforts to establish, without delay, the Namibia Institute of Public Health (NIPH).”

He said this will be the agent tasked with the long outstanding implementation of the International Health Regulations in Namibia. According to him the NIPH will be tasked with disease surveillance, outbreak prevention and preparedness. It will also focus on medical disaster management, research and development and training of public health experts, including field epidemiologists.

“I believe the training of the public health experts' component of the NIPH could suitably be placed at the Unam School of Public Health. The technical consultations that are currently ongoing will determine the modalities and scope,” said Haufiku.

He said since 2015, many regions experienced a rise in malaria cases and in early 2017, a malaria outbreak was declared by the ministry, with the Kavango East and Kavango West, Ohangwena and Zambezi regions being the most affected. These regions border Angola whose malaria transmission is very high compared to Namibia.

A total of 13 909 malaria cases were reported this year over the past three months (January to March) with the Kavango East and West regions contributing 77.3% out of the total cases reported so far, followed by Zambezi at 11.1% and Ohangwena at 7.6%.

A total of 22 deaths were reported during the three-months, which is less than the 37 deaths reported during the same period last year.

According to Haufiku, the Hepatitis E outbreak was another challenge faced during the past five months. This outbreak occurred mainly in informal settlements in Windhoek for obvious reasons, such as poor sanitation, poor hygiene and a lack of running water.

So far 1 186 cases have been reported and 12 people died.

Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever was another deadly disease outbreak faced by Namibia over the past few months.

So far two lives have been lost to this tick-borne disease - one in Gobabis in 2017 and one in Keetmanshoop recently.

Infections due to the Listeria monocytogenes bacteria were also reported in Namibia, but no lives were lost.

Anthrax and cholera outbreaks also put a further strain on resources, but loss of life was averted. “Much of the successes in controlling these outbreaks and limiting its impacts are attributable to the effective and efficient coordination of stakeholders, through a multisectoral approach in tackling the outbreaks.”

Haufiku expressed appreciation to all stakeholders who were involved.

ELLANIE SMIT