Skoll Foundation Donates 7 Mln USD for COVID-19 Preparedness, Response in Africa

ENA, March 10/2020 The Skoll Foundation has contributed 7 million USD to support Coronavirus (COVID-19) preparedness and response activities in Africa. 

Through this funding, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), SACIDS Foundation for One Health (SACIDS), and East African Integrated Disease Surveillance Network (EAIDSNet) have agreed to collaborate and coordinate efforts to better prepare and respond to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak across Africa.

According to Africa CDC, this partnership is a response to the call for a continent-wide strategy to prepare and respond to the coronavirus that Africa Union Health Ministers agreed on during an emergency meeting convened by the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat on 22 February 2020.

The partnership between Africa CDC, SACIDS, and EAIDSNet will focus on implementing several technical areas of AFTCOR: diagnosis and sub-typing; enhanced surveillance and risk communication in several African Union member states.

A press release of Africa CDC said that the partnership will build on existing systems for monitoring influenza-like illnesses and severe acute respiratory infections. The institutions will implement joint activities within the surveillance and laboratory working groups of AFTCOR.