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Thousands of Mozambican miners are returning to work in\u00a0neighboring\u00a0South Africa for the first time since borders closed in March due to COVID-19.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Five\u00a0hundred miners screened for the virus by their hiring agency, have received\u00a0health checks\u00a0at an IOM cross-border Occupational Health Centre,\u00a0which operates\u00a0in cooperation with Mozambique\u2019s Ministry of Health and Ministry of Labour,\u00a0Employment and Social Security.\u00a0\u00a0The center was created to improve the early diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis\u00a0(TB),\u00a0a condition which disproportionately affects mine workers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The first group\u00a0of workers who were called to return by mining companies\u00a0are in quarantine in South Africa for 14 days. An additional 3,000 will be screened at the\u00a0centre\u00a0in the coming weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
IOM has decades of experience assisting its members states with a range of health and border management issues. The Organization\u00a0advocates\u00a0for the health-proofing of global mobility systems and sees the integration of migrants into the post-pandemic planning as a key to global socio-economic recovery efforts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
South Africa\u2019s gold and platinum mines alone employ roughly 45,000 migrant workers and their skills are considered essential to the resumption of economic activity there.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI have worked in South Africa for 31 years.\u201d said a\u00a0mineworker,\u00a0Januario. \u201cHere in\u00a0Ressano\u00a0Garcia I did my health check,\u00a0all of\u00a0the tests, I was\u00a0approved\u00a0and I am in good health, without\u00a0illness.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0arrangement\u00a0between the two countries to allow the flow of properly screened\u00a0labor\u00a0migrant across the border by mainstreaming COVID-19\u00a0prevention measures\u00a0is an example of what can be accomplished when governments are encouraged to discuss and plan together for the resumption of cross-border mobility. It is hoped that thousands of migrant workers, including those in the agricultural sector, with contracts in South Africa will soon become part of the same process.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The health check process at the clinic in Ressano Garcia has also been adapted to address public health concerns related to COVID-19. Prevention measures including multiple hand hygiene stations, physical distancing, the wearing of masks is required to protect both staff and patients all of whom receive detailed information about COVID-19 as part of the process.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0centre\u00a0was\u00a0launched with\u00a0funding\u00a0from\u00a0the United States Centers for Disease Control\u00a0and\u00a0Prevention, and\u00a0is currently supported by the World Bank.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since opening in 2018, the\u00a0centre\u2019s\u00a0program has evolved to include tests for diabetes, hypertension, and voluntary HIV testing is offered, in addition to tuberculosis screening.\u00a0The services are being further upgraded to also include audiometry, vision acuity test, spirometry (lung capacity) and chest x-ray to detect other occupational illnesses.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
From September 2018 until August 2019\u00a0IOM\u00a0has screened over\u00a018,000\u00a0Mozambican miners who work in South Africa for TB, in addition to diabetes and hypertension, and offered voluntary HIV testing.\u00a0Through the effort, a total of\u00a01,613 TB suspect cases were further tested and\u00a097 new TB and\/or HIV cases were discovered.\u00a0Support to initiate and continue treatment in South Africa through a cross-border referral system\u00a0is provided through\u00a0implementing partner organization in South\u00a0Africa, \u00a0Right\u00a0to Care.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cThis centre is essential to protect the health of miners and their communities,\u201d said\u00a0the\u00a0Ministry of Health\u2019s\u00a0Dr.\u00a0V\u00e2nia\u00a0Chongo-Faruk, Occupational Medicine Physician from the National Occupational Health Program-MISAU.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe services provided include conducting a health check both upon departure and return, and provision of follow up medical assistance including cross-border referrals for; this helps to ensure that these miners and migrant workers\u00a0will receive the care that they need to continue their work and safely visit their families.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Efforts to facilitate mobility by integrating public health into border management is also evident in IOM\u2019s work with cross-border truckers at the\u00a0Ressano\u00a0Garcia and\u00a0Machipanda\u00a0border crossings. Since early June, IOM-trained facilitators have engaged with close to 7,500 cross-border truck drivers, providing COVID-19 prevention messages in local languages, with a focus on practical tips for handwashing and physical distancing.<\/p>\n
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Organization for Migration (IOM).<\/i> Thousands of Mozambican miners are returning to work in\u00a0neighboring\u00a0South Africa for the first time since borders closed in March due to COVID-19. Five\u00a0hundred miners screened for the virus by their hiring agency, have received\u00a0health checks\u00a0at an IOM cross-border Occupational Health Centre,\u00a0which operates\u00a0in cooperation with Mozambique\u2019s Ministry of Health and Ministry of Labour,\u00a0Employment and Social Security.\u00a0\u00a0The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":50430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/thumb\/7eeb40756ae2dae\/200\/200\/fit","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[655],"tags":[258,256,8139,20938,32489,5731,13332,7751,4704,257,8609,6656,5069,254,9216],"class_list":["post-50429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-algeria","tag-africa","tag-africa-news","tag-algeria-news","tag-checks","tag-coronavirus","tag-health","tag-miners","tag-mozambican","tag-mozambique","tag-news","tag-receive","tag-return","tag-south","tag-south-africa-today","tag-thousands"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/thumb\/7eeb40756ae2dae\/200\/200\/fit","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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South Africa Today Africa \u2013 North Africa Algeria<\/a> News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"