Essential services
The COVID-19 pandemic has exerted significant strain on health systems across the region. The huge efforts being made to curb the virus have stretched the health workforce and affected the delivery of other essential health services. WHO has worked with countries to ensure that the provision of essential services is a priority in the COVID-19 response and helped identify the health services most affected by the pandemic and heightened advocacy to support these priority areas. Through training and guidance, countries are stepping up the delivery of essential health services. However, more efforts are needed to further develop and fund national plans for the maintenance of essential services, decentralize COVID-19 response and revert part of the workforce and funding initially repurposed for the pandemic response to maintain routine health interventions.
30 July 2020
Infection Prevention and Control
WHO has been working with countries to improve COVID-19 infection prevention and control in health facilities and key public areas. Along with partners, the Organization has trained about 91 000 health workers through online sessions and directly in the field and assessed more than 4000 health facilities to ensure they meet WHO standards. WHO has also issued guidance and held a conference with ministries of health and partners to find ways of tackling health worker infection. Experts have been deployed and essential equipment and supplies delivered to countries.
18 June 2020
23 July 2020
26 March 2020
Operational Support and Logistics
International travel restrictions imposed in much of the world to slow COVID-19 spread has greatly hampered the supply of essential medical supplies and equipment. In April, WHO in collaboration with other United Nations agencies, the Africa Union and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention organized a “Solidarity Flight” that delivered essential supplies to 52 African countries. The WHO Regional Office for Africa also set up a system to consolidate procurement and shipment to countries which has seen more than 1140 orders processed and delivered to 47 countries. WHO and other United Nations agencies have also formed a global procurement consortium which leverages their networks, expertise and product knowledge to support countries that have limited access to markets. The consortium has so far shipped 2.1 million testing kits to 47 countries in Africa.
16 April 2020
23 April 2020
02 July 2020
Preparedness
As COVID-19 began to spread around the world, African countries quickly established border screenings, relying on existing capacities built for previous outbreaks. Readiness and response measures such as improving diagnostic, contact tracing, treatment and public health information were being stepped up. An initial assessment in March gave a score of 66% for national readiness. This has now risen to above 80%. WHO has trained over 12 500 health workers on pandemic readiness, supported countries to develop preparedness plans and shared technical guidance including on COVID-19 research. WHO also supported the development of innovations to tackle the virus and set up an online information portal on emerging COVID-19 innovations. Now more efforts need to be focused on decentralizing preparedness to subnational levels as well as bolster research and innovation and increase funding for prevention and control measures at points of entry.
23 February 2020
05 February 2020
07 February 2020
Risk communication
One of the most important and effective interventions in public health response to any event is to proactively communicate what is known, what is unknown and what is being done to get more information with the objective of saving lives and minimizing adverse consequences. With COVID-19, a new pathogen that soon became a pandemic, providing accurate information and countering misinformation has never been more critical. WHO Regional Office for Africa has partnered with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, the International Federation of Red Cross and NGOs and other organizations to coordinate risk communications and community engagement in countries. WHO has also worked with countries to train staff, deployed experts and provided guidance. Effective risk communication at subnational level is nonetheless hampered in some countries by lack of resources, staff and strong coordination.
Surveillance
Throughout the COVID-19 response, WHO has worked with countries to strengthen surveillance, including detection, managing alerts, epidemiological investigations, contact tracing and data management. The Organization has supported the rollout of outbreak data management tools in 26 countries, conducted online trainings, provided technical guidance and set up a geographic information system for data visualization. With the spread of COVID-19 from urban centres to the countryside and the large number of cases being reported, there is a need to improve surveillance systems beyond the national level. Better information sharing and enhancing technical capacities in the use of geographic information systems in many countries remain crucial to providing comprehensive data, analysis and understanding of the pandemic to improve response.
06 August 2020
Testing
With just two laboratories able to test for COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa when the outbreak began, countries – with assistance from WHO, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and other partner organizations – have ramped up testing capacities. Now all the 47 countries in WHO African Region can diagnose the virus and around 6.4 million polymerase chain reaction tests have been performed so far. More than 2.1 million test kits have been delivered to countries and 2 million more are to be shipped. A COVID-19 platform for laboratory practitioners in the WHO African and Eastern Mediterranean Regions has been launched and an external quality assurance programme established to monitor countries’ capacity to accurately test for the virus.
31 July 2020
07 May 2020
Treatment
As the world races to find treatment for COVID-19, strong public health measures to prevent infection, diagnose, isolate and treat patients remain crucial. WHO has trained doctors and nurses on care for COVID-19 patients, including the critically ill, especially in smaller countries with a limited workforce. The Organization is also supporting countries to procure key supplies for treatment. For instance, WHO has helped countries to boost their oxygen production capacity considerably, with the numbers of oxygen plants in the region rising to 119 from 68, while the number of oxygen concentrators has increased from 2969 to 6025. But more support is still needed to help countries tackle the spread of the virus and provide adequate care for patients.
23 April 2020
28 February 2020
21 May 2020
18 June 2020