The African Union and the African Centres for Disease Control have announced a joint continental strategy to tackle the killer novel CoronaVirus which has killed more than33, 997 and left 723,434 infected as of Monday March 30th 2020 across the world and 134 deaths and 4,282 confirmed cases across the continent.
So far 46 countries in Africa have confirmed cases, Uganda inclusive. The AU goal is to prevent severe illness and death from COVID-19 infection in Member States and minimize social disruption and economic consequences of COVID-19 outbreaks.
The joint strategy has two strategies to; Coordinate efforts of Member States, African Union agencies, World Health Organization, and other partners to ensure synergy and minimize duplication, and to promote evidence-based public health practice for surveillance, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and control of COVID-19.
The AU says it will ensure high-level political commitment and leadership across all sectors involved in COVID-19 response, particularly Peace and Security, Trade and Industry, Economic Affairs, and Rural Economy and Agriculture.
Ensure complementarity and synergy of guidance, advocacy, and Member State support with World Health Organization, including headquarters and regional offices for Eastern Mediterranean Region and African Region, and other multilateral partners.
Partner with regional economic communities of Africa to promote implementation of Africa CDC guidance, particularly regarding borders and trade. And, Provide technical assistance and essential commodities to Member States to support an all-of-government approach to COVID-19, consistent with Africa CDC guidance.
It will also support the private sector, including airlines and airports in screening for and management of COVID-19 cases and collaborate to maintain supply chains for shared resources, including personal protective equipment, laboratory supplies and equipment, and, if available and necessary, medical countermeasures.
Collaborate with donors, foundations, academic institutions, and other stakeholders to strengthen public health capacity for COVID-19 control.
Collect, analyze, and disseminate accurate, timely data about the epidemiology of COVID-19 in Member States. High priorities include: ensuring high-quality screening at points of entry, among contacts of cases, and other highrisk settings, enhancing existing influenza-like illness, severe acute respiratory illness, and event-based surveillance systems1, supporting complete and prompt investigation of cases and tracing of contacts; adapting health information systems for managing case and contact data; monitoring and reporting numbers, characteristics, and outcomes of cases that are both clinically diagnosed and laboratory confirmed, investigating rumors and supporting prompt communication to debunk false stories.
nsure quality-assured testing for COVID-19 diagnosis, genotyping, and special studies. High priorities include: equipping and training public health laboratories at the national and sub-national level, supporting selected laboratories to perform next generation sequencing on COVID-19 specimens and open sharing of sequences, strengthening reference laboratories and laboratory networks for specimen referral testing and quality assurance, including inter-laboratory comparison and proficiency testing, and facilitating biobanks and evaluation of new assays for diagnosis or special studies, particularly point-of-care technologies and serology.
The strategy will be implemented through two major operational units: Africa Task Force for Coronavirus (AFTCOR), and Africa CDC’s Incident Management System.
