Making a Difference through Dedication, Determination, and Dignity
When COVID-19 hit, Dr. Njabuliso Lukhele jumped into action to support his fellow citizens of Eswatini
When Dr. Njabuliso Lukhele first joined USAID Eswatini, no one imagined that in less than 12 months, one of his major responsibilities as the senior medical advisor would be to directly support the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini’s response to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
While some may have shied away from this daunting and grueling work, Dr. Lukhele readily and humbly accepted the nomination to be part of the national Public Health Emergency Management Committee and the national Incident Management Team to help serve and lead his fellow emaSwati (citizens of Eswatini) through the evolving COVID-19 pandemic.
From his early years, Dr. Lukhele has been drawn to helping others. His preschool teachers used to comment on his ability to care for others and easily imagined him excelling as a physician. His desire to pursue a medical degree was cemented after acting as a doctor during a third grade play. Undeterred by the absence of a medical school in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Dr. Lukhele successfully completed his formal medical education in Zimbabwe.
As a newly minted physician, he returned to Eswatini energized to begin his career in clinical medicine. He gained public health expertise through various roles within the Ministry of Health and became familiar with USAID. In 2019, Dr. Lukhele started at USAID Eswatini with the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
For the first nine months, Dr. Lukhele supported various HIV prevention, care, and treatment programs. There was no shortage of work as he was only one of two physicians on the USAID/Eswatini team.
In March 2020, his work portfolio changed when the COVID-19 pandemic spread to Eswatini.
Dr. Lukhele spent his days overseeing HIV programming and his afternoons coordinating with the Eswatini Ministry of Health (MoH) to develop Eswatini’s COVID-19 response plan. In those early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and as Eswatini’s hospitals reached capacity, Dr. Lukhele helped train other health care workers — alongside USAID local partners — to prevent and treat patients with COVID-19.
“As the pandemic spread our hospitals were filled to capacity. Our team at USAID worked closely with the local partners that were supporting the MoH with setting up a field hospital to provide care to additional patients,” he said.
Dr. Lukhele has also directly supported the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini to improve case management of individuals with COVID-19, increase in-country oxygen production, and equip and support the Kingdom’s Emergency Medical Services.
With support from the U.S. Government, Eswatini has expanded the breadth and depth of its emergency medical services and ability to provide critical care and respiratory support as a result of training, mentoring, and supporting health care workers. The country has also been able to procure critical equipment including patient monitors through USAID.
The Luke Commission, a local organization with which USAID partners, built the country’s first oxygen plant which was critical for responding to Eswatini’s three COVID-19 waves.
Dr. Lukhele says it saved lives, recalling one patient who was admitted to the ICU during the peak of Eswatini’s second COVID-19 wave and stayed for more than three months before being successfully discharged.
“It was a very happy day for all of us when that patient walked out of the hospital,” the doctor recalled. “We could have lost more patients during subsequent waves had we not built the oxygen plant.”
The country is now in the process of rolling out COVID-19 vaccines. Eswatini is one of 11 countries included in the Initiative for Global Vaccine Access, or Global VAX. And the Eswatini Ministry of Health has set ambitious targets to vaccinate 70% of its population by December 2022.
As of February, close to 35% of the population had been vaccinated with at least one vaccine dose, and nearly 29% had completed the entire vaccine regimen. Health leaders say that readying public health infrastructure is critical to accommodate the increased demands of vaccination.
“As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have had to increase training for health care workers to disseminate vaccines and vaccine information,” Dr. Lukhele explained. “Because of this campaign to share vaccine information and increase awareness, more people in Eswatini understand the importance of vaccines and now flu vaccines are more common here.”
Juggling numerous and immense work demands, Dr. Lukhele’s family and friends frequently remind him that he can’t be everywhere at once. Despite the long days, he finds joy in knowing that he has directly helped save the lives of many in Eswatini and he knows his contributions have better positioned the Kingdom for future health threats.
“My advice for my fellow health worker colleagues is to always remember that the gift of life is so precious,” he says. “As health workers, we can help patients who can’t help themselves, and that is the most important thing.”
About the Authors
Rachel Golin is a Senior Technical Advisor with USAID’s Office of HIV/AIDS; Liz Squire is a Communications Advisor with the same office; Elizabeth Conklin is the Deputy Country Director with USAID’s Mission in Eswatini.
