NEDBANK LAUNCHES DONATE-A-MEAL: HELP A HEALTH WORKER CAMPAIGN. 

Windhoek, July 27 – – Nedbank Namibia has collaborated with the Lithon Foundation, 3Measures, Co-Feed Namibia, Ogilvy and PayToday to launch the “Nedbank Donate-a-Meal: Help a Health Worker” nationwide campaign.

The campaign aims to galvanise national support through the creation of a donation platform via the PayToday app. The Bank donated N$100,000 to kick-start the meal programme for critical staff at the Katutura State Hospital and Robert Mugabe Clinic. The programme will be extended to other hospitals and clinics in the country as fundraising efforts continue. Meals will be prepared by local restaurants, which in turn supports small businesses, who too have been greatly affected by the necessary public health regulations.

As Namibia battles the third wave, healthcare workers remain at the forefront of treating and caring for patients with COVID-19 across the country. One week ago, healthcare workers accounted for 4% of the total confirmed cases of COVID-19. Without a doubt, our medical professionals work under immense pressure and have borne the brunt of the pandemic in more ways than one. Not only do they save lives and care for severely ill patients, but must further bear the physical and mental stress of heavy workloads and full hospitals. They carry the high risk of becoming infected with the virus themselves – to date 0.6% of the total deaths due to COVID were healthcare workers.

“The health crisis underscores the essential and often under-valued role of healthcare workers which is the source of inspiration for Nedbank’s humanitarian campaign. The campaign seeks to mitigate some of the daily frontline challenges healthcare workers face while selflessly dedicating their lives to help combat the impact of COVID-19 amongst those in critical care at state hospitals. Due to the strenuous nature of work and the long hours, COVID-19 frontline workers often find very little time to nourish themselves with sufficient daily nutrition,” says Gernot de Klerk, Head: Marketing and Communication at Nedbank.

Nedbank Namibia and their partners intend to ensure adherence to high-impact project management, monitoring, delivery and evaluation of this important initiative.

“Our healthcare workers have been selfless in their daily labour of love; the very least we can do is come together to support them in small meaningful ways,” said Chris Botha from PayToday. “The PayToday app will enable more Namibians to get involved and demonstrate their gratitude to those who have held and continue to hold the frontlines”, he added.

“Namibia can be proud of those who went to work every day and stood in the line of fire, serving our community with love and hope. Lithon Foundation is inspired by the level of humanity and caring they have shown during this pandemic.  We believe if you light a lamp for someone else, it will brighten your own path, and we call upon this great nation to join this valiant and joint effort, to make a difference,” said Marsia Reed from Lithon Foundation.

Nedbank Namibia invites interested parties to join the cause to ensure the sustainability of this crucial national initiative. Members of the public and other corporate partners can donate directly on the PayToday app under the Nedbank Donate-a-Meal account and nominate their preferred hospital. Moreover, Nedbank calls on Namibians to continue showing their support for Frontliners by wearing a mask, sanitising, maintaining social distances and avoiding crowds to curb the spread of the virus. We can show our support to healthcare workers by getting vaccinated and taking care of ourselves and others to enable Namibia to reach herd immunity.

Robert Maseka

mrobert@namibiadailynews.info