The African Development Fund Board of Directors, on Wednesday, approved grants worth $ 28.233 million to Sudan to strengthen the country’s health system seeking to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.
This support should also help in mitigating the social and economic impacts of the pandemic and strengthen resilience to future pandemics, including climate and induced epidemics, a press release sent to APA on Thursday informs.
The financing will take the form of a grant from the African Development Fund of $ 26.47 million and a grant of $ 1.764 million from the Bank’s transitional support facility, the note says.
The latter adds that the grants are provided under the CovidD-19 Response Facility of the African Development Bank.
As part of the project, the press release details, four components will be deployed at national and regional levels: strengthening health systems and building resilience to respond to Covid-19 and future epidemics and pandemics; improving community engagement and risk communication; strengthening of laboratory analyzes and surveillance; and project management.
The first component will include the increase of Intensive Care Units (ICU), medical equipment and infrastructure and the creation of isolation centers. The second element will support community awareness and engagement on mask wearing and other hygiene practices as well as anti-stigma efforts.
The laboratory tests and surveillance interventions offered include epidemiological surveillance and rapid response, as well as training and adoption of standard testing procedures. The fourth and final component concerns the recruitment, management and administration functions of the project.
The project is aligned with the Sudanese government’s Covid-19 preparedness and response plan, as well as the Bank’s ten-year strategy and the High 5 Program to improve the quality of African populations’ life.
It complements other Covid-19 response aid that the Bank provides to the East African Community (EAC), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) under the auspices of the African Union (AU)..
ARD/te/fss/abj/APA