The African Union Commission today received medical supplies from the Republic of Korea that will boost the continental capacity to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The consignment included 2 million masks were given by the Republic of Korea to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) to be distributed to the AU Member States.

The supplies were received by the Deputy Director, Africa CDC, Dr Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, representing the Commissioner for Social Affairs H.E. Mrs Amira Elfadil, and the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the African Union, H.E. Ambassador Hoonmin Lim. The ceremony was also attended by participants from the Africa CDC and media.

“We highly appreciate this donation from the Government and people of the Republic of Korea which will support our African Union (AU) member States to tackle this pandemic more effectively”, said Dr. Ogwell.

Speaking on the occasion, Amb. Hoonmin Lim commended the AU pivotal role in tackling COVID-19 by leading a systematic and coordinated set of Pan African policies. The Ambassador underlined that the Korean Government fully recognizes the importance of active support to AU activities and will continue to support efforts to implement the Africa Joint Continental Strategy for COVID-19.

The Korean Government has designated the Africa CDC as the priority partner in health cooperation, and provided a total of 9 million US dollars’ worth of in-kind and financial assistance and shared experiences in dealing with the COVID-19.

Notes to Editor:

The Africa Joint Continental Strategy for COVID-19

The Africa Joint Continental Strategy for COVID-19 aims to prevent severe illness and deaths due to COVID-19 infection in AU member states, minimize social disruption, and mitigate the economic consequences of COVID-19.

As part of the strategy, Africa CDC launched an initiative, the Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing (PACT): Test, Trace, Treat, Africa CDC, to mobilize support for the deployment of one million community healthcare workers and community workers and train at least 100,000 healthcare workers by the end of 2020, it was indicated.

Read more @: https://au.int/en/documents/20200320/africa-joint-continental-strategy-covid-19-outbreak

About Africa CDC

Africa CDC is a specialized technical institution of the African Union which supports Member States in their efforts to strengthen health systems and improve surveillance, emergency response, prevention and control of diseases. Learn more at: http://www.africacdc.org

For further inquiries, please contact:

1. Mrs. Wynne Musabayana | Head of Communication Division| Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission | E-mail: MUSABAYANAW@africa-union.org |

2. Mr. Gamal Eldin Ahmed A. Karrar | Senior Communication Officer | Directorate of Information and Communications (DIC) | E-mail: GamalK@africa-union.org