Japan Provides 1 mln USD to Africa CDC to Support Continental COVID-19 Strategy

Addis Ababa July 17/2020(ENA) The government of Japan has donated 1 million USD to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) to support the implementation of the Africa Joint Continental Strategy for COVID-19. 

According to a statement issued on Thursday by the African Union, the grant will be used to strengthen the capacity of Africa CDC Regional Collaboration Centers so they can support effective and efficient communication and knowledge exchange on COVID-19 among member states.

The donation will also support infection prevention and control activities as well as improve clinical case management of COVID-19, the statement added.

The statement stressed the need to intensify the public health and social measures and to increase testing and contact tracing at the community level as the number of COVID-19 cases in Africa has been increasing daily since the first reported case in February 2020.  

“The COVID-19 pandemic is gaining momentum in Africa and this is the time to see more partnership and more solidarity from around the world. Countries must plan to ease the lockdowns safely. We must increase mass wearing of masks, expand testing and engage the community if we must win the war against this virus,” the Director of Africa CDC, Dr. John Nkengasong said.

The Africa Joint Continental Strategy for COVID-19 aims to prevent severe illness and deaths due to COVID-19 infection in AU  member states, minimize social disruption, and mitigate the economic consequences of COVID-19.

As part of the strategy, Africa CDC launched an initiative, the Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing (PACT): Test, Trace, Treat, Africa CDC, to mobilize support for the deployment of one million community healthcare workers and community workers and train at least 100,000 healthcare workers by the end of 2020, it was indicated.