- Dr John Nkengasong, Director of the Africa CDC,
- Dr Tom Frieden, President and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives,
- Mr Arnaud Bernaert, Head of Health and Healthcare, World Economic Forum,
- Dr Darrell Bricker, CEO, Ipsos Public Affairs.
Good morning and good afternoon:
I am pleased to join you in launching this timely report, which highlights the importance of using data-driven approaches to inform public health and social measures in response to COVID-19.
We know that to stop the spread of this virus, the key public health measures should be in place in every community and at every stage of the response. These are surveillance, case finding, testing, isolation of cases, providing care, and tracing and quarantining contacts. Even in communities that have not reported cases, readiness capacities should be pre-positioned.
In the past few months, countries have significantly strengthened their capacities, starting in capital cities. All countries have set-up incident management systems and built laboratory capacities, with support from WHO and Africa CDC. We are training health workers in infection prevention and control and case management, supplies have been shipped and replenished, and mobilization of civil society is underway.
We are now working with countries and partners to quickly expand and decentralize these capacities and to ensure action is anchored in, and engages, communities and their structures. And we will use the findings in this report, to strengthen our policy advice and guidance.
In decentralizing the response, countries first need to build on their existing capacities. For instance, in Cote d’Ivoire, we have helped the Government to build on ongoing efforts to strengthen primary health care and the health system to quickly expand capacities. This approach contributed to reduced transmission in peripheral settings.
Countries are also leveraging assets strengthened in response to Ebola and other outbreaks, including community-based surveillance, integrated disease surveillance and response, and real-time geographic information systems technologies to strengthen COVID-19 surveillance.
Coordination at the local level also needs to be strengthened, and to support this we have held webinars with 500 district health officials and teams, on how to decentralize the response. We are advising countries to put in place strong regional teams, who can empower districts to organize the full range of response measures.
Within health systems, and communities, to engage more people, countries can repurpose government workers, call-back retired health workers, fast-track final-year health professions students, mobilize communities and engage partners. South Africa and Mauritania have mobilized thousands of community health workers. In Malawi, additional health workers have been recruited and hazard pay has increased. At WHO, we have repurposed staff and positioned teams in provinces to support governments, including with contact tracing and surveillance.
To better engage and inform communities, we are advising governments to work through community associations, traditional leaders, and civil society groups.
Finally, and most challenging, supply chains of essential commodities need to be strengthened within countries. At the same time, we are working with countries and partners to address worldwide shortages of test kits through the UN COVID-19 Supply Chain Task Force.
Countries are taking proactive measures, including repurposing HIV and TB laboratory assets. In South Africa, 39 mobile laboratories have been deployed. However, PCR machines are not available in all countries at the subnational level, and so we are procuring additional machines and looking at how to use rapid diagnostic tests in resource-limited settings, in collaboration with regulatory authorities and referral laboratories.
This aspect, and the response, needs to be monitored to anticipate and overcome challenges. Particularly in repurposing capacities, countries need to ensure continuity of essential services, to avoid unforeseen increases in other diseases.
In closing, finding the Balance report is an excellent contribution to support our collective evidence-informed action to save lives and protect livelihoods in communities in Africa.
Thank you.