Africa CDC, MasterCard Foundation to Deploy 10,000 health workers to Tackle COVID-19

Addis Ababa, June 5/2020( ENA)The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Mastercard Foundation Thursday announced partnership to deploy 10,000 community health workers and deliver 1 million test kits to help fight COVID-19 in the continent. 

According to a press release sent to ENA,  Mastercard Foundation is committing 40 million USD to the Africa CDC’s Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing (PACT) through its COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Program.

The funds will be used to purchase 1 million test kits, train and deploy 10,000 community health care workers as well as 80 surveillance rapid responders to support contact tracing, as well as strengthen the Africa CDC’s capacity to oversee a continental response to the pandemic.

The Healthcare workers will enable COVID-19 contact tracing and the deployment of technology platforms that will enhance testing, epidemiological modeling, and critical health forecasting, to support re-opening and recovery of economies.

“The daily figures show clearly that the pandemic is still on the rise, and to defeat it Africa needs greater cooperation with everybody, including the governments, the community, the media, and the development partners”, Director of Africa CDC Dr John Nkengasong underscored.

He expressed his believe that the Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing (PACT) will create more solidarity and cooperation to give immediate response to the pandemic.

Mastercard Foundation President and CEO Reeta Roy said: “The Mastercard Foundation stands with the Africa CDC and calls on other funders to support this excellent plan.”

The Africa CDC has distributed more than 2.5 million tests and provided medical supplies  including personal protective equipment, thermal scanners, and ventilators, across Africa.  

As of 31 May 2020, Africa CDC had deployed 164 community health workers to support COVID-19 response within Ethiopia, where the Africa CDC is headquartered, and across 14 Member States.

The Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing is anchored on the Africa Joint Continental Strategy for COVID-19 endorsed by the Bureau of Heads of State and Government of the African Union to help limit COVID-19 transmission in Africa, the press release stated.