BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – If you are an aspiring nurse, paramedic, environmental professional, or an aspiring administrator, you are included in the 169 vacancies that are available in the Ministry of Health right now.
This is according to the 2024/25 Second Quarter Performance Report (July 2024 to September 2024) of the Ministry of Health. According to the report, the health workforce of the Ministry of health is composed of 4 639 established posts and a total of 4 470 were filled. This means that there were 169 vacancies during the quarter.
“The distribution of the vacant posts was as follows: 93 were allied/paramedic, 25 medical /dental, and 81 were nurses/midwives and 159 were Environmental /Administration and Other Support Staff,” says the report.
The ministry was able to recruit and fill 29 positions during the quarter, and the recruitment process was ongoing, with 34 vacancies advertised already both externally and internally, and 69 to be employed and promoted. Following an investigation that was conducted by the Auditor General’s Office, hearings of some of the eight officers who face disciplinary hearings began in the second quarter.
In the previous quarter, upper respiratory continued to be the leading condition that was treated at Out Patient Departments of health facilities. A total of 4 153 diarrheal consultations were recorded during this reporting period, of which a majority (51 percent) (n=2 131) reported were males. Acute watery diarrhoea remains the main contributor of the diarrheal cases.
Even though the number of COVID-19 cases declined significantly over the past few months, the Ministry continued to monitor it. The report states that 67 percent of index cases of COVID-19 were investigated, and 100 percent contacts were traced to quickly identify cases and stop the disease from spreading further. A total of 12 confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported during the reporting period, 14 recoveries and one death.
A cumulative total of 39 suspected Mpox cases were recorded and samples sent for testing, out of which there were no samples that tested positive for Mpox. This means that by the end of the quarter, the country had not recorded any confirmed Mpox case.
The Ministry regards maternal and child health a priority service and is putting in place strategies to reduce mortality of mothers and children. Despite these efforts, there were six maternal deaths reported through the Integrated Disease Notification System. The number of babies who died in the uterus or early after delivery (within 28 days of birth) remains high, a situation that the Ministry is investigating further to understand the causes.
The sector was able to reach a good coverage of 99.8 percent and 83.7 percent in BCG and DPT childhood vaccination coverage respectively. There were 50 Rural Health Motivators who were trained on integrated package of community-based health services including maternal newborn child adolescent health, nutrition and non-communicable diseases. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a significant and growing threat to public health globally and to the health of the Eswatini nation.
During the quarter, there was an increase in the number of people newly diagnosed with NCDs, from 2 500 in July to September 2023 to 3 010 during the same period in 2024. This is due to the increase in community screening activities being carried out by the Ministry supported by the Taiwan ICDF project, which will run from January 2024 to December 2027.
The Ministry is also working with other relevant sectors to review the Tobacco Control Act of 2013 to include new or novel tobacco products such as e-cigarettes, due to its impact on increasing NCDs such as cancers. Other strategies, including reducing obesity, are being implemented by the Ministry in collaboration with other sectors.
