WBCG Wellness Service extend footprint Zambia

The Walvis Bay Corridor Group (WBCG) Wellness Service is excited to announce that it has resumed the task of managing the SADC Secretariat funded Cross Border Wellness Clinic in Sesheke, Zambia – Western Province, as of 1 April 2022. 

The objective of the Sesheke based roadside wellness clinic is to provide comprehensive health and wellness services to key populations such as mobile populations, especially long-distance truck drivers, female sex workers and other cross border vulnerable communities living in close proximity of the border. Furthermore, the clinic will offer Covid-19 testing and vaccination services. 

The clinic was initially under the management of WBCG until Dec 2018, but it was handed over to the Zambian Ministry of Health due to funding constraints. However, due to its strategic location as well as the excellent relationship between the WBCG and both the Zambian and Namibian Governments respectively, the WBCG was once again appointed by the SADC Secretariat to resume the management of the clinic.

As part of this partnership, the Zambian Ministry of Health through a joint meeting that was held on the 31 March 2022 in Sesheke, commits to continue providing all medical supplies to the clinic at no cost, as well as ensuring that the clinic operates according to the government’s policies and regulations.

In line with the core mandate of the WBCG, this cross-border clinic will ensure that the project primary target groups will continue to benefit from health and wellness services without any significant disruptions to their daily operations. In particular, eligible long distance truck drivers will be able to get vaccinated against Covid-19 right at the border, which in turn will ensure a seamless transition into the neighbouring country. In addition, the clinics will offer all other primary health care services including an HIV test, glucose or cholesterol test for the driver to ensure that their immune systems are strong enough to allow them to navigate through their long journeys along the transport corridors.

The Chief Executive Officer of the WBCG, Mr. Mbahupu H. Tjivikua expressed gratitude toward the Government of the Republic of Zambia for the provision of the clinic as well as for the promotion of health and wellness along the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Development Corridor (WBNLDC). “The WBCG Wellness Service has been at the forefront of fighting communicable and non-communicable diseases in the transport and logistics industry. The cross-border clinic will aid the Wellness Service to be responsive to the health and wellness challenges of truck drivers beyond Namibia,” said Mr. Tjivikua.

The WBCG Wellness Service is constantly seeking out opportunities to expand its network of roadside wellness clinics beyond Namibia, in order to increase its reach and to ensure that the transport and logistics industry, as well as the vulnerable communities they interact with, have access to critical health and wellness services.

The Zambian clinic that will be managed in collaboration with the Government of Zambia and with funding support from the SADC Secretariat. The Sesheke clinic brings the total of WBCG wellness clinics to eight (8).