The West African Health Organisation (WAHO) will provide financial and material support to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), members states to contain the Novel Coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic outbreak in the region.
The Director-General, WAHO Prof. Stanley Okolo, made this during a virtual news conference on COVID-19 using the ZOOM network.
Okolo said that WAHO distributed over 30,000 diagnostic test kits to the 15 ECOWAS Member States and these were the first testing kits received by most of the countries.
He also noted that currently, the distribution of 50,000 specimen transportation kits, 10,000 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and some medications to Member States where ongoing.
“Many States have received their allocation of diagnostic kits, but all the other support are expected to be delivered to the countries by DHL between March 30 and April 7.
“We have placed orders for more diagnostic test kits and PPEs which we expect to arrive within the next two weeks. In addition, we are sourcing for ventilators which are equipment for supporting the breathing of severely ill patients in hospitals to distribute to countries.
“All these efforts are to supplement what individual countries are doing by themselves.,” he said.
He said that as the Institution is designated by the highest authorities of ECOWAS to lead the coordination, collaboration and communication in the region with regards to COVID19 pandemic, WAHO had been active in bringing together Member States to adopt a regional approach to the pandemic and to support them as necessary.
He noted that the COVID19 pandemic was rapidly evolving in the ECOWAS region since the first case was reported from Lagos, Nigeria February 27, 2020.
“As of yesterday, March 31, 2020, a total of 1,077 new confirmed cases and 31 deaths have been reported across all 15 Member States.
“Sierra Leone was the last country in the ECOWAS region to be affected and reported a confirmed COVID19 case on March 31, 2020.
“On February 14, 2020, a few days after the declaration by WHO of COVID19 as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, WAHO convened an emergency meeting of the Ministers of Health of ECOWAS on preparedness and response to the outbreak of COVID19 the first region in Africa to do so.
“The meeting agreed on a unified regional approach to COVID19, and we held media briefings on this in Bamako, Mali on Feb. 14, 2020, and in Abuja, Nigeria on February 17, 2020.,”he said.
According to him, WAHO immediately strengthened the capacity of all 15 member states to test for COVID19 through a regional laboratory training and distribution of the first batch of diagnostic kits to all member states.
Okolo said that WAHO then conducted several other regional trainings on risk communication, emergency operations, and a simulation exercise for the regional rapid response teams.
“In all the 15 ECOWAS Member States, several actors including health workers are being mobilized to save lives. However, there continues to be the challenge of securing sufficient materials given the disruption in global supply chains.
“This is something WAHO is tackling through its partnership with other agencies and bodies to ensure we never run out of stock in the region,” he added.
The WAHO DG noted that other key actions WAHO was taking to fight the COVID19 pandemic was the development of Operational Guides for the fight against COVID19 pandemic in the ECOWAS region.
He disclosed that an online training for healthcare workers on the use of these guides would commenced April 6-12 2020.
Okolo, however, stated that the most important tool in the fight against COVID19 was the behavior of every citizen.
“It is of utmost importance that the citizens heed the information on how to protect themselves and their loved ones, and so stop the spread of the pandemic in their own community,”he said.
