YouSaid · the spoken record

Ojwang

lines on the record
11
first
2022-04-11
most recent
2022-04-11
sittings or episodes
1
sources
un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

  1. “Such groups understand the local contexts and real-world barriers to delivery. They speak the local language and have earned the trust and acceptance of communities. They can reach remote areas and underserved communities where the United Nations and Governments may not have access. Finally, they should make concrete investments to ensure an equitable COVID-19 vaccine roll- out that leaves no one behind. That must include consistently collecting and using sex-, age- and disability- disaggregated data. It requires robust gender analyses that help us understand the unique barriers to vaccination faced by men, women, boys, girls and historically marginalized groups. All that data must be used to tailor the response to ensure that we are reaching the most marginalized with COVID-19 information and services.”

    2022-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9014 (2022) · source

  2. “That must include investments in front-line health-care workers, community outreach, monitoring and logistics. Thirdly, they should ensure that non-governmental organizations (NGOs), women-led organizations and front-line health-care workers have meaningful roles in the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out, not just in delivering services to the last mile, but also in decision-making about the response. That includes consistent roles in the humanitarian cluster system. It also means investments in feedback and monitoring systems that enable NGOs to provide real-time data so we can pinpoint service bottlenecks, identify equity gaps and address them. Fourthly, they should invest in community- driven, bottom-up approaches. That must include the meaningful and consistent participation of local NGOs, community groups and women’s groups.”

    2022-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9014 (2022) · source

  3. “It is critically important that we identify and address gender-related inequities and take concrete and proactive steps to make sure women and girls in all their diversity are reached with information and services. In conclusion, I urge all Security Council members to call on the United Nations system, the international donor community and host Governments to take the following actions. First, they should ensure safe and unhindered humanitarian access to all people in need. That is essential to create the enabling environment for equitable vaccine delivery in conflict, post-conflict and humanitarian settings across Africa and beyond. Secondly, they should ensure that COVID-19 vaccine costing models and budgets cover all aspects of delivery and reflect the real-world costs of rolling out the vaccines to the last mile.”

    2022-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9014 (2022) · source

  4. “Seventy per cent of front-line health-care workers globally are women, many of whom are working without fair pay and in unsafe and unsupportive working conditions. We have to invest in those women at the front lines of service delivery if we are serious about an effective vaccine roll-out. CARE’s experience and evidence from across South Sudan and other conflict and post-conflict settings indicates that women are less likely to be vaccinated than men, they are less likely to have access to health information and services, and they may also have less trust in vaccines, including persistent misconceptions that COVID-19 vaccines cause infertility.”

    2022-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9014 (2022) · source

  5. “We know the exact cost of vaccine delivery will vary from context to context, but South Sudan is just one of many conflict- and post-conflict settings with a fragile health system where we know we will need additional health-care workers, training and infrastructure if we want to roll out the COVID-19 vaccine to the last mile, while also preventing the disruption of other essential health services. In fact, costs will go up as South Sudan works to reach remote and underserved communities with highly effective but very expensive approaches, such as mobile clinics and health outreach. The WHO has already noted that those approaches have been dramatically underfunded. I also want to stress that we must centre gender at the heart of COVID-19 vaccine roll-out if we want to ensure an equitable and effective response.”

    2022-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9014 (2022) · source

  6. “We made sure that they had personal protective equipment, and we rotated vaccinators between COVID-19 vaccine delivery and childhood immunizations to reduce burnout. Fourthly, we made sure that everyone was paid the same daily salary in accordance with the Ministry of Health standards so that there were no pay gaps between vaccinators working on the COVID-19 response versus routine health-care services. We agreed that those health-care workers would stay on after the COVID-19 vaccine effort to leave behind a more resilient health system. One key point I want to underscore is that the real cost of inclusive, last-mile COVID-19 vaccine delivery in South Sudan is significantly higher than the current global estimates.”

    2022-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9014 (2022) · source

  7. “For example, we mobilized religious leaders to provide accurate information to their congregations. Knowing that radio is the primary source of information for most people in South Sudan, we worked with local call-back radio stations so that anyone could phone in to ask questions in their local language and receive accurate information from expert health-care workers. Secondly, we extended and strengthened the health- care workforce by bringing on additional vaccinators and service providers. This meant that we could roll out the COVID-19 vaccine without disrupting other essential health services, such as childhood immunizations. Thirdly, we made sure that all health-care workers, including existing and new ones, were adequately trained and supervised.”

    2022-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9014 (2022) · source

  8. “But the story I really want to share with the Council today is about how South Sudan’s Ministry of Health and its partners worked together in June and July of 2021 to make a series of smart investments that dramatically increased their collective ability to roll out COVID-19 vaccines, even in conflict-affected areas. In fact, despite having had to send back 70,000 vaccine doses in May 2021, just two months later the Ministry of Health was able to administer almost all the 60,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines they had in stock. Key to those success stories were several innovative approaches that the Government of South Sudan and its partners implemented in June and July 2021. First, we made strategic investments in community education and mobilization to bust the myths and misinformation surrounding vaccines.”

    2022-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9014 (2022) · source

  9. “Fifty-six percent of people had inadequate access to health services and had to walk miles and miles to reach a clinic. We faced shortages of skilled health- care workers; only 30 per cent of women delivered with skilled birth attendants, which meant we had some of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world, related to very preventable causes. When COVID-19 hit, only 49 per cent of our children had received the standard childhood vaccines. One can imagine the huge challenge South Sudan’s health system faced when we had to suddenly roll out COVID-19 vaccines to a population of about 12 million people, many of whom live in regions that are cut off from the rest of country for several months of the year owing to seasonal flooding.”

    2022-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9014 (2022) · source

  10. “We are working hand in hand with the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and the Health Pooled Fund to reach communities, especially women and children, with health services in various parts of the country. Those are communities facing multiple challenges and crises, not just coronavirus disease (COVID-19). They are facing food insecurity, and there are still flare-ups of intercommunal conflict and flooding that have caused displacement in some of the states. As has been the case elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa, there has been misinformation in some of the locations where we work, which has contributed to vaccine hesitancy, including very persistent myths that vaccines cause infertility in women and men. Even before COVID-19 hit, the health systems in the areas where we work were fragile and overstretched.”

    2022-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9014 (2022) · source

  11. “Mr. Ojwang: I thank the members of the Security Council. I am honoured to address this organ today on behalf of my organization, CARE International in South Sudan. CARE has been operating in South Sudan for almost 30 years, providing humanitarian assistance to various parts of the country in multiple sectors, including health care, nutrition, gender and protection, and food security and livelihoods. In the health-care sector, CARE is one of the lead actors in South Sudan supporting 56 health facilities across the country. We are working in 4 of the 10 states, some of which are hosting internally displaced persons severely affected by seasonal flooding and recovering from prolonged conflict.”

    2022-04-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9014 (2022) · source