Video message of WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti
Hello and thank you to everyone at the Hilton Foundation for your support to the work of the World Health Organization on the COVID-19 response in Africa.
At WHO, we are working day and night to save lives and stop the spread of this virus. Every morning we analyse how case numbers are changing in order to provide strategic and timely advice to governments and partners.
Every day I am encouraged by the bright spots. For instance, Namibia and Seychelles have implemented WHO recommendations closely and have now have gone almost three weeks without reporting a confirmed case.
I encourage countries and partners to accelerate and sustain the public health response in the coming months. This means surveillance, case finding, testing, isolation, care, contact tracing and quarantining contacts. We also need to fully engage and empower communities to protect themselves and others and to strengthen health systems to ensure continuity of provision of other essential services.
To defeat COVID-19, we need to sustain international solidarity and to advance research and development of vaccines and treatments, and we should ensure everyone, particularly vulnerable communities, like low-income households and refugees, can access the care they need. We will keep working with partners to make this happen.