Health and Social Services Minister Dr Kalumbi Shangula has urged his ministry staff to redouble their efforts in executing their shared mandate of providing quality health services and welfare to the citizens.

Opening his ministry's management staff workshop in Windhoek on Monday, Dr. Shangula stressed the need for improved service delivery.

While commending the achievements recorded in addressing TB and HIV/AIDS in the country, the minister feels more needs to be done.

The Minister of Health and Social Services says the delivery of public health services can be enhanced through strong partnerships.

Dr. Kalumbi Shangula said this at the staff rotating ceremony of the 14th and 15th Chinese Medical Teams in Windhoek today.

Since 1996, China has been sending medical personnel to Namibia to contribute to the provision of health care services in the country.

Dr. Shangula noted that the presence of these teams in Namibia’s health facilities has enriched the services delivered to patients.

The parents accusing the Windhoek State Mortuary for the disappearance of their baby's body from the mortuary, have still not received any news from the relevant authorities almost two months after the incident occurred.

The Ministry of Health and Social Services' spokesperson Walter Kamaya, last week informed nbc News that the ministry is busy with investigations.

"I was briefed this morning by the head of the mortuary that investigations into this matter are being carried out. The Ministry will pronounce itself once the investigation is done" said Kamaya.

The availability of medical equipment is key to the provision of quality health care services.

Health and Social Services Minister Dr. Kalumbi Shangula made this remark when he received medical equipment from South Korea and Iceland through the World Health Organization.

The purpose of the donation is to aid the government in improving the health of pregnant women and newborns and increasing the quality of care in the provision of other essential health services.

A Windhoek lawyer, Gilroy Kasper of Murorua, Kurts Kasper Incorporated, has threatened to drag the Ministry of Health and Social Services to the Windhoek High Court after the state mortuary in the capital allegedly lost the body of a new-born baby.

The baby was born to parents Petra Pienaar and Geralld Garieseb on December 25.

According to Pienaar, her baby died during birth at the Katutura State Hospital in December last year.

After she and the father of the baby boy were shown the body, the body was moved to the state mortuary at the Central Hospital.

Vertice MedTech Namibia has donated medical equipment to the value of N$135 000 to the Ministry of Health and Social Services.

The donation is meant to help the Health Ministry improve the quality of its cardiovascular care offered, in accordance with the World Health Organization for Prevention of Cardiovascular disease.

The donation comprises five Zephyr single-chamber Abbott Pacemaker kits with pacemakers among others.

A pacemaker is a small, battery-operated device that senses when the heart is beating irregularly or too slowly.

Limited resources and poverty among people in rural areas are hampering efforts to end the spread of HIV/AIDS in Namibia.

This was said by the Acting Director of Health and Social Services in Kavango East Region Woita Kapumburu at the World AIDS Day Commemoration at Rundu.

Kapumburu says, despite improvements in combating the spread of the disease, the Ministry of Health and Social Services is still faced with challenges in achieving the dream of ending HIV and AIDS.

The Ministry of Health and Social Services is collecting data on how to improve response to HIV/AIDS as part of the new strategic framework for 2023, aimed at intensifying the fight against the pandemic.

HIV/AIDS poses a serious development challenge in Namibia, as it negatively impacts all sectors of the economy.

The National Strategic Plan on HIV/AIDS's overall goal is to reduce new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths by 75% and move the country towards ending the disease as a public threat by 2030.

Namibia's Health and Social Services Minister, Dr Kalumbi Shangula, says his ministry means to take healthcare services closer to rural communities through tailored resources.

In the Ohangwena Region, Dr Kalumbi Shangula opened a comprehensive community-based health-service facility near the Oshikango border.

For too long, people at the Oshikango border crossing received healthcare treatment under trees.

However, this is now something of the past, following the opening of this comprehensive community-based health-service facility.

Namibia joined the rest of the world in observing #MedSafetyWeek, being commemorated under the theme "How patients and healthcare professionals make safety work". 

The Ministry of Health and Social Services embarked on a social media campaign from the 7th to the 13th of November with the goal to encourage the public to report suspected side effects of medicines.