Health experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) have arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa, to bolster the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Development Diaries understands that as Africa nears the recording of one million Covid-19 infections, the WHO is expanding support to countries experiencing a significant rise in the number of cases.
The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, said, ‘As the impact of the virus intensifies in a number of hotspots in Africa, so too are WHO’s efforts.
‘At the request of the South African government, our experts will be embedded with the national response teams, working closely with local public health officials to address some of the urgent challenges the country is currently facing’.
It was noted that WHO was increasing support to 11 countries which had requested assistance. The Organisation was mobilising more technical experts on the ground, scaling up training to build up local capacity, particularly at the provincial and district level.
With community transmission occurring in more than half of countries in Africa, WHO was also beefing up community engagement and health education, and providing direct material support to strengthen testing capacity.
To help meet the demand for essential medical equipment across Africa, WHO and other United Nations agencies have formed a global procurement consortium that leverages their networks, expertise, and product knowledge to support countries that have limited access to markets.
The WHO-led consortium has secured critical volumes of testing kits and other key diagnostic supplies from major manufacturers. The consortium has shipped 1.8 million testing kits to 47 countries in Africa over the past month. Another 1.1 million testing kits are expected to be dispatched in the coming weeks.
Source: World Health Organisation
Photo source: UNMEER
