The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) indicated that, two years after the start of the pandemic, it has not been able to carry out a “comprehensive assessment” on the handling of covid-19 in Nicaragua, because the Ortega government has not provided the necessary information.
“The information we have received has been succinct and almost exclusively through the channels of the International Health Regulations,” said Dr. Ciro Ugarte, director of PAHO Health Emergencies, on Wednesday.
The official explained that despite this lack of information and “following the principles and mandates of the organization to support the countries and protect the health and well-being of the population, in this case of Nicaragua, we have continued to support the country to ensure that the continuity of health services remains not only for covid-19 patients but also for other aspects, such as emergencies.”
Likewise, he stressed that, during these two years of pandemic, they have sent important donations of personal protective equipment, medicines, supplies for conducting molecular tests and other critical supplies. Also, PAHO participated in the development of several specific regulations for the control of covid-19.
“We have contributed to developing a training process for Minsa officials through the virtual campus of Minsa and PAHO, to train officials who will apply these measures and the recommendations for preventing the transmission of covid-19, the protection of human health resources that are our first front of protection and epidemiological surveillance,” said Ugarte.
Population complies with prevention recommendations
The person in charge of Emergencies stressed that the population has received important information about the pandemic that has allowed them to implement protection measures. However, he did not explain whether he is referring to information provided by the authorities or by civil society, which during the two years of the pandemic have made efforts to sensitize the population to the lack of information, such as the Citizen Observatory, the extinct Committee Multidisciplinary Scientist, the Nicaraguan Medical Unit or independent doctors.
According to official data, Nicaragua accumulated a total of 18,601 positive cases until March 8, 2022, of this figure 13,783 recovered and 227 died, one weekly for 17 months. After the arrival of the omicron variant in the country, the Minsa admitted a slight increase, but for two weeks the cases have decreased.
The authorities have also not informed the population about the impact of the variants of concern of SAR-CoV-2 in Nicaragua during the last two years. The circulation of these strains was known because PAHO reported it in its weekly press conferences.
There are no dates for sending vaccines yet
PAHO also reported that there is still no date on the donation of more than 657,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines, which will be delivered during the first half of this year.
“We are in conversation with the Government, with the Ministry of Health, to know exactly when they will need (the vaccines). This dialogue is important so that the country can receive the vaccines that it has the capacity to use,” said Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, deputy director of PAHO.
He explained that this forecast is due to the fact that countries receive vaccines from more than one source and it must be guaranteed that they are used according to capacity. A monitoring of CONFIDENTIALcalculates that Nicaragua has 15.4 million vaccines of eight different sera, of these the Minsa has already applied 9.4 million to the population over two years of age.
“Nicaragua has already managed to vaccinate more than 81% of its population and about 60% with two doses, which is important progress in recent months,” said Barbosa.
