Health ministers from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have been meeting in the Malian capital Bamako to set in motion common strategies aimed at staving off the coronavirus.
By Ibrahima Dione
According to a press release from the Senegalese Ministry of Health and Social Action copied to APA on Monday, it is “the urgency of the current situation regarding covid-19” (new name for the coronavirus), which justified the holding of this meeting chaired by the Prime Minister of Mali, Boubou Cisse.
At the end of the meeting, ECOWAS Health ministers took a series of measures: strengthening coordination, communication and collaboration between its member states in preparing for the covid-19 epidemic, in particular cross-border collaboration, strengthening surveillance measures at air, land and sea ports of entry, strengthening communication to ensure that the public receives accurate, appropriate and timely information about the epidemic and urgently ensuring capacity building at the national level for diagnosis and case management.
In addition, the regional bloc planned to “elaborate a regional strategic training plan based on the priorities of member states, promote national multisectoral efforts using the single health approach to maximize the impact, implement robust measures to ensure the availability of essential medical supplies, including laboratory and personal protective equipment in the region.”
The document also states that “the ministers take note, support and welcome the efforts (of China) to manage this epidemic,” promising to “work closely with the competent authorities of national governments and the Chinese government to monitor and ensure the health situation of (their) citizens residing” in the Asian country.
The coronavirus epidemic, the epicenter of which is China’s central city of Wuhan has already killed 1,775 people.
Of the 71,810 people who contracted the virus, only 11,188 were completely cured.
The highly contagious disease has affected some thirty countries in all continents.
So far, only one case has been confirmed in Africa (Egypt), where a carrier of the disease has been detected and put in quarantine.
ID/te/fss/as/APA