LILONGWE, March 12 (Xinhua) -- The Malawian government has secured a 25-million-U.S.-dollar grant from the Pandemic Fund to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response in the country, according to officials.
The funding was announced by Charles Njuguna, World Health Organization (WHO) representative to Malawi, during a meeting Tuesday with Malawi's Deputy Minister of Health and Sanitation Charles Chilambula in Lilongwe, the capital.
Njuguna said that 8 million dollars of the grant has been earmarked for strengthening the Malawi's laboratory systems to improve early disease detection and the quality of care.
The support would help strengthen the healthcare system, enhance disease prevention and control, improve immunization, and address both communicable and non-communicable diseases, he said.
Chilambula welcomed the grant, saying it would help address gaps in laboratory capacity through staff training, equipment upgrades and infrastructure improvement.
He added that the funding would also support the introduction of mobile laboratories to improve service delivery during disease outbreaks and emergencies.
In a phone interview with Xinhua on Wednesday, George Jobe, executive director of the Malawi Health Equity Network, said the funding would help ease pressure on the government during health crises but called for prudent management of the resources to maintain donor confidence.
The Pandemic Fund is a multilateral financing mechanism hosted by the World Bank, with the WHO serving as technical lead, to help low- and middle-income countries strengthen health systems against future pandemics. ■