BY DELISA THWALA
MBABANE – The Reconstruction Fund launched by His Majesty King Mswati III in 2021 is one of the Prime Minister’s highlights in his term.
Prime Minister Cleopas Sipho Dlamini said in 2021, His Majesty King Mswati III launched the Reconstruction Fund to assist businesses that were affected by the June 2021 social unrest.
“As of May 2023, at least E230M had been disbursed to 422 out of 688 applications received. We remain grateful to His Majesty King Mswati III,” he said.
Notwithstanding the various challenges that the Government faced, access to primary health care services was achieved through the construction and rehabilitation of 17 hospitals and clinics with an investment of E441M.
Similarly, COVID-19 demanded a quick response and 25 health centres were revamped to be COVID-19 compliant with a total investment of E170 million.
Worth noting is that under the same Cabinet Eswatini was also the first country in Africa to achieve the global UN target of 95-95-95 for treatment and viral suppression years in advance and is now at 94-96-97, according to the recent SHIMS3 survey.
Dlamini said this was a significant milestone that saw His Majesty King Mswati III receive two awards from PEPFAR.
“We do not have to be complacent with these achievements though; HIV/AIDS is still in our midst and we need to still exercise a lot of caution and vigilance, particularly among the youth,” he said.
In addition, the Prime Minister highlighted that PM In a total of 948 Primary and Secondary schools, 741 structures were completed, thus creating a conducive teaching and learning environment plus education opportunities for over 106 147 learners. This was achieved with an overall investment of E547 million in the last five years.
