The Skoll Foundation has attributed a total of $7 million to support Coronavirus (COVID-19) preparedness and response activities in Africa.

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

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, H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 22 February 2020. The high-level meeting also endorsed the Africa Taskforce for Coronavirus Preparedness and Response (AFTCOR).

The partnership between Africa CDC, SACIDS, and EAIDSNet will focus on implementing several technical areas of AFTCOR: diagnosis and subtyping, enhanced surveillance and risk communication in several African Union Member States. It 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.

SOURCE: AFRICA CDC