The Coalition of Civil Society Organizations on the Global Financing Facility (Cosc/Gff) is concerned about the passive strategy adopted by the authorities in the face of the outbreak of Covid-19 cases. This civil society organization, which discussed the situation in a webinar, “regretted the policy of the State which has not integrated civil society in its actions to fight the pandemic in a structured and sustainable way. This, according to the members of this organization, “despite the effective support in human, financial and material resources, in actions on the ground of the latter”. In its diagnosis, the Cosc also notes “that the sudden rupture of vaccines against Covid-19 in Senegal negatively impacts the will of the State to prevent new variants”. Moreover, convinced “that the solution to community cases must come from a community response”, Cosc urges the State of Senegal to “value the work of civil society by demedicalizing the response, to recognize and rectify that the health system is not limited to the Ministry of Health and Social Action”. For the members of this organization, “it is imperative to involve all health actors, from the strategic level to the community level. They also recommend “ensuring that messages to populations are not divergent or conflicting, but rather focused and coordinated.
The organization also asks the authorities to review their “new policies for the management of Covid-19 cases and to think about a bold vaccination strategy aimed at immunizing at least 60 to 70% of the population”. Addressing the population, she “calls on them to be aware of the need to contain this third wave and avoid that Tabaski is an opportunity to spread the virus in the regions”. Thus, they are invited “to respect and enforce the barrier measures along their journey and once in their respective homes”. Similarly, Cosc asks “the State to supervise all this with controls by the defense and security forces”. And also, it adds, “to further support these civil society initiatives as well as community actors who have so far received less than 2% of the budget allocated to the response against Covid-19”.
To contribute to the fight against the pandemic, the Cosc has decided to set up “a rigorous response task force that involves all civil society actors in the health field”. This task force, according to the members of this organization, “aims to synergize the resources of civil society so that all the member organizations revisit the plans and budgets to put in place an emergency program and help the country’s health system. In this scheme, they point out, “an important place is reserved for youth and women in the response strategies, especially at the community level.
Source :The Daily, July 19, 2021