The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has launched a web-based tool, AVoHC Net, to facilitate rapid deployment and better administration of a standby workforce for public health emergencies across the continent.
The Africa CDC launched the tool in collaboration with the International Health Regulations (IHR) Strengthening Project of Public Health England (PHE).
The AVoHC Net, Development Diaries understands, is designed to facilitate easy and rapid access to updated profiles of members of the African Volunteer Health Corps (AVoHC), exchange of relevant information with partners for public health emergency deployments, and training of experts on disaster preparedness, management, and response.
‘With this tool, which enables us to maintain a current repository of potential deployable workforce, Africa CDC will be able to quickly deploy urgently needed personnel to any part of the continent with minimum delay. We are very pleased to support this work’, the IHR Team Lead for PHE, Dr Ebere Okereke, said.
As for the Director of Africa CDC, Dr John Nkengasong, he said, ‘Africa CDC is deploying community workers and community healthcare workers in different countries to help fight Covid-19 pandemic, but we need to be able to do this more rapidly and in a more coordinated manner.
‘We also need to know the training needs of the experts being deployed and be able to provide training appropriately.
‘With AVoHC Net, Africa CDC will be in a better position to provide targeted workforce development support for public health emergencies as an integral part of the health systems strengthening agenda for Africa’.
AVoHC was created as a multidisciplinary standby workforce, following the outbreak of Ebola virus in parts of West Africa in 2014, to support response to public health emergencies in any part of Africa.
It is understood that since its creation, membership of AVoHC has grown to over 800 experts in epidemiology, laboratory, logistics, communication, social science, environmental health, animal health, and incident management.
Source: African Union
Photo source: African Union
