Jigawa, 29 March 2021 - On a recent weekday, community health worker Hajiya Balkisu Yahaya bared her arm and felt the small prick of the needle as she got her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine from a colleague. In return, Hajiya Balkisu vaccinated her colleague too. The two are health workers deployed as vaccination teams to immunise against the COVID-19 disease in Nigeria’s Jigawa State and are some of the first to get the jab. 

Abuja, 31 March 2021 - “We should be recognized while making health decisions and not all should be made for us especially the girl child. The government should create more youth friendly centres where youths can feel free to discuss issues regarding their health, this will help the youth not to go into depression, if they have place where they can let out their agitations and have competent counselors to attend to them”, Isabel Anani a teenager and representative of Stand With A Girl Initiative said.

29 March 2021 — Seventy-one (71) new COVID-19 cases were identified out of 7044 samples tested today. This brings the cumulative number of confirmed cases twenty-one thousand, four hundred, and ninety (21490). To date, nineteen thousand, eight hundred, and sixty (19860) patients have recovered, including seventy-five (75) in the past 24 hours. The number of active cases is one thousand, three hundred, and twenty-five (1325) and three hundred and five (305) deaths. 

Gaborone, Botswana - 27 March 2021 – A shipment of 24 000 doses of the AstraZeneca South Korea COVID-19 Vaccine, has arrived at the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport in Gaborone. Obtained from SKBioscience in South Korea, it is the first shipment of 100 000 vaccines purchased by the Government of Botswana, enabled through the COVAX Facility.

The Nigerian population, currently 202 million, is projected to reach 400 million by 2050. The national Maternal Mortality Rate is 512 deaths/100,000 (NDHS 2018). There is limited access to health services through the conventional health system and COVID-19 pandemic affected provision of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health facilities, including Family Planning.

28 March 2021 — Forty-nine (49) new COVID-19 cases were identified out of 10578 samples tested today. This brings the cumulative number of confirmed cases twenty-one thousand, four hundred, and nineteen (21419). To date, nineteen thousand, seven hundred, and eighty-five (19785) patients have recovered, including forty-four (44) in the past 24 hours. The number of active cases is one thousand, three hundred, and thirty-three (1333) and three hundred and one (301) deaths. 

27 March 2021 — Sixtyty-one (61) new COVID-19 cases were identified out of 4416 samples tested today. This brings the cumulative number of confirmed cases twenty-one thousand, three hundred, and seventy (21370). To date, nineteen thousand, seven hundred, and forty-one (19741) patients have recovered, including eighty-four (84) in the past 24 hours. The number of active cases is one thousand, three hundred, and twenty-eight (1328) and three hundred and one (301) deaths. 

26 March 2021 — Ninety-nine (99) new COVID-19 cases were identified out of 4179 samples tested today. This brings the cumulative number of confirmed cases twenty-one thousand, three hundred, and nine (21309). To date, nineteen thousand, six hundred, and fifty-seven (19657) patients have recovered, including one hundred and seventeen (117) in the past 24 hours. The number of active cases is one thousand, three hundred, and fifty-two (1352) and three hundred (300) deaths. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) country office in collaboration with the European Union Delegation in Botswana and the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MoHW) officially launched the 13,6 million BWP project “Strengthening epidemic preparedness and response to COVID-19 to reduce excess morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19 and other epidemic-prone diseases in the high-risk population in Botswana”. The initiative is funded by the European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO).