• £20 million to help African response to coronavirus
ADDIS ABABA – The UK will invest up to £20 millionin the African Union’s new ‘African Union Covid-19 Response Fund’to tackle coronavirus and save lives.
According to the press release the UN embassy sent to The Ethiopian Herald, this makes the UK the largest national donor to the fund, which was announced by Cyril Ramaphosa, Chairperson of the African Union (AU) and President of the Republic of South Africa last month.
The fund will tackle the pandemic by recruiting African health experts and deploying them where they are needed most, strengthening global tracking of the pandemic, combatting potentially harmful misinformation, providing specialist coronavirus training for health workers and making information about the virus more accessible to the public.
Announcing the funding yesterday, International Development Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said “As the UK faces its biggest peacetime challenge in tackling coronavirus, it’s never been more important to work with our partners in Africa to fight disease.
“No one is safe until we are all safe and this new funding and support for African leadership will help protect us all – in the UK, Africa and around the world – from further spread of the virus.”
The announcement follows calls between Minister for Africa James Duddridge, AU Commissioner for Trade and Industry Albert Muchanga and AU Commissioner for Social Affairs Amira El-Fadil in which they discussed the risks Africa faces from the pandemic and how the UK is working with partners on the continent to tackle these shared global issues.
This new support comes ahead of the UK hosting the virtual Global Vaccine Summit on 4th June, to secure future funding for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which has already saved the lives of millions of children in Africa from infectious diseases
Yesterday’s announcement brings the total UK aid contribution to fighting coronavirus to up to £764 million ($935.6 million).
The Ethiopian Herald May 21/2020
