ADDIS ABABA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- As the pandemic is rising on the continent, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on Friday urged more support to its initiative -- Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing (PACT).

PACT is anchored on the Africa Joint Continental Strategy for COVID-19 endorsed by the AU bureau of heads of state and government to curb COVID-19 transmission in Africa, by strengthening the capacity to test, trace, and treat COVID-19 cases on the continent.

"There is only one formula to fight COVID-19 in Africa and that is the PACT initiative," said Dr John Nkengasong, Director of Africa CDC, emphasizing that the daily figures show clearly that the pandemic is still on the rise.

Under the initiative, Africa CDC is working with AU member states and several partners to support pooled procurement, storage and distribution of diagnostics and other medical supplies; testing of at least 10 million individuals, and the deployment of one million community workers and community healthcare workers.

In a statement on Friday, the Centre said it has partnered with MasterCard Foundation, which is committing 40 million U.S. dollars to PACT.

The fund will be used for the purchase of one million test kits, and to train and deploy 10,000 community healthcare workers and 80 surveillance rapid responders to support contact tracing as well as strengthen Africa CDC's capacity to oversee a continental response to the pandemic, according the statement.

The Africa CDC undertakes these COVID-19 response measures in partnership with the African Field Epidemiology Network.

PACT will also support the deployment of technology platforms that will enhance testing, epidemiological modeling, and critical health forecasting, to support re-opening and recovery of economies.

"And to defeat the pandemic Africa needs greater cooperation with everybody, including the governments, the community, the media, and the development partners," said Nkengasong,.

"We need to equip, deploy and train more healthcare workers as quickly as possible, and we expect that there will be more cooperation and solidarity through PACT," he has noted.

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

As of May 31, 2020, Africa CDC had deployed 164 community healthcare workers to support COVID-19 response across 14 Member States and at its headquarters in Ethiopia.

Africa CDC is rallying resources and support to bridge existing gaps in public health systems by meeting the PACT targets. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)