The World Health Organisation (WHO), does not have enough resources to support African nations in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, an official says.
WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, made this known on Tuesday at the 70th session of the bloc’s Regional Committee for Africa in Moscow.
“As far as the work on COVID-19 is concerned, we still have a significant gap in mobilising the resources that we need to provide, particularly technical support, to the work that you are doing,” Moeti said.
According to her, given the fact that the virus will continue to circulate after the pandemic, it is necessary to adjust to this new reality, make greater use of technologies and develop partnerships in responding to the health crisis.
The WHO official also urged African countries to take all precautionary measures ahead of elections.
“I want to stress the fact that we know in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, there will still be quite few countries that will be holding elections in the next few months.
“We urge that these potential mass gatherings be run in a way that takes into account the need to minimise the spread of the virus; and we are available in the WHO to provide advice, as far as that is concerned,” Moeti added.
A number of African countries are set to hold presidential elections in 2020, including the Central African Republic, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Tanzania, while some others will elect a new parliament, including Chad and Egypt.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa has increased to one million, with a death toll of more than 20,000, WHO stated.
