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ADDIS ABABA, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) – The African Union (AU) Commission on Thursday stressed that Africa’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic “is far from over.”
The statement was made by Amira Elfadil, the AU Commissioner for Social Affairs, during the occasion when the African Development Bank (AfDB) approved a grant of $ 27.33 million to the African Centers for Control and Disease Prevention (Africa CDC) to Support the continental fight against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the pan-African bloc, although Africa has not registered a very high number of cases and deaths from COVID-19 as in other continents, the impact of the pandemic has been “very high on the continent, exerting intense pressure on the already fragile system. of health”. and negatively affecting the socioeconomic situation of the continent “.
The AU Commissioner for Social Affairs emphasized that the “fight against COVID-19 is far from over”, as she emphasized that the financial support obtained from AfDB “will help strengthen the capacity of Africa CDC to respond to COVID-19 and future pandemics. “
“It will help improve the capacity of the National Institutes of Public Health in member states, support epidemic intelligence based on evidence, strengthen infection prevention and control, and support Regional Economic Communities,” Elfadil said.
In February 2020, CDC Africa developed a continental strategy to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the goal of improving cooperation, collaboration, coordination, and communication while preventing serious illness and death and they minimize social disruption and economic consequences due to the pandemic. The strategy was validated by African health ministers in February and endorsed by the Office of Heads of State and Government in March 2020.
AfDB’s financial grant, which was awarded in three key components which are technical assistance and capacity development, institutional support and contribution to the African Union Response Fund to COVID-19, is expected to support the implementation of the Africa Joint Continental Strategy for the COVID-19 outbreak. .
According to the AU, the financial support will allow CDC Africa to provide technical assistance and capacity building support to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigate its impact in 37 eligible AU member states for the African Development Fund.
Abdul Kamara, AfDB Ethiopia Country Manager, also said during the occasion that the expected outcome of the Bank’s collaboration with the AU “is a stronger Africa CDC capable of rapidly coordinating emergency assistance in Africa, particularly in the low-income member countries, beyond the current COVID -19, working in collaboration with other development partners, including those in the private sector. “
In June 2020, CDC Africa had implemented the Partnership to Accelerate Testing for COVID-19 (PACT), an initiative that has allowed it to bring partners together as a collective to expand testing, contact tracing and treatment. of COVID-19 cases throughout the country. continent.
John Nkengasong, Africa CDC Director, said during the event that Africa CDC sees PACT “as a movement that allows us to do certain things very quickly.”
“Since PACT was implemented, testing, contact tracing and treatment have improved across the continent, but we have not gotten there yet. What this tells us is that what we are doing is working and we must step up our efforts. That is why the association with institutions such as the AfDB is very important to us ”, he added.
As of Friday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent has reached 2,026,841 as the death toll related to the pandemic stood at 48,681, according to the Africa CDC.
A total of 1,714,395 people infected with COVID-19 have recovered across the continent so far, it was noted. Final product
