Chiefs, political leaders embrace Malawi International CoVID-19 Response Group’s rural community CoVID-19 vaccination acceleration programme

An interactive meeting in Nkhotakota

Maravi Express 

Community and traditional leaders, politicians and other people of high standing are acting as community influencers in positive support of the rural community CoVID-19 vaccination acceleration programme, which Malawi International CoVID-19 Response Group (MICRG) rolled out in October this year.

The programme is being delivered in partnership with the Society of Medical Doctors of Malawi (SMD) and NBS Bank that has reached out to three districts of Neno, Nkhotakota and Mzimba — where over 200 leaders were reached out and given the platform on community radio stations to communicate and influence rural communities in order to accelerate uptake of rural communities CoVID-19 vaccination.

“We are  pleased with the progress and we would like to appeal to all Malawi to continue getting vaccinated,” says Tikhala Chimpango, PR & Comms lead for MICRG.

MICRG is an initiative that was initiated by the Malawi Diaspora Network (MDN) and taking cognizance that the vaccination uptake awareness was not reaching out to the rural communities, the group decided to join the campaign.

”We are working tirelessly to save the lives of our families in Malawi and we are urging every Malawian to play their role in the battle against this pandemic” says chairperson Edith Chikago-Parker, ACMA. 

She also emphasized the importance of adopting a multi-stakeholder partnership and collaboration approach which has been vital for the success of the programme.

The initiative has been endorsed by the Malawi Government, during its meeting with Dr. Nkhoma — co-chairperson of the presidential taskforce on CoVID-19 — commended the group on its strategic approach and informed the members that the Ministry of Health has asked all the districts district health social service officers (DHSSs) in to submit their plans and budget on CoVID-19 with an intention of increasing vaccination rates. 

The initiative got support of NBS Bank, which sponsored MICRG with MK9.6 million — a gesture that showed the Bank’s willingness and determination to adhere to their strong corporate social responsibility.

SMD president, Dr. Victor Mithi — who is the leading the delivery team on the ground — reports that they have been working in close partnership with the presidential taskforce on CoVID-19, saying they have also managed to link the programme to the government mobile vaccination clinics.

He explained that the response has been encouraging as through the community influencers many people are positively coming out for their jabs — which is a plus in balancing up the uptake of information between the urban vs the rural.

Dr. Mithi also took cognizance that community radios play a huge part in influencing people in matters of national importance — thus MICRG applauds all who accepted to be community influencers in this initiative.

Staff Sergeant Chim Musicha, who is MICRG’s programme delivery and quality assurance lead, says the group has limited funding to cover the   districts so far we have reached  over 200 community leaders in Neno, Nkhota-kota and Mzimba.

“We have also recently joined forces with our colleagues from Malawians Health Initiative (USA) and have agreed on phase 2 of our strategy which will focus on intensifying fundraising activities in order to raise MK40 million required to deliver the programme in the remaining 21 districts.”

In order to support the Malawi Government in intensifying its response to the vaccination drive, the group is organising a virtual panel discussion to be held via Zoom on Sunday, December 19 at 3.00pm Malawi time and 1.00pm UK time — meeting ID: 838 7083 6801- Passcode: 661713.

MICRG was launched in January, 2021 to support Malawi Government in implementing sustainable CoVID-19 management strategies by  coordinating the diaspora resources that include knowledge, skills and abilities in supporting sustainable CoVID-19 management strategies.

To date, MICRG has contributed towards Malawi’s CoVID-19 management strategies through presentations during high-level national vaccination roll-out and planning meetings, delivering virtual panel discussions, publications, disseminating information and advising on Malawi’s corporates social responsibility strategies.