Simon Ateba is Chief White House Correspondent for Today News Africa covering President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. government, UN, IMF, World Bank and other financial and international institutions in Washington and New York.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told African nations on Wednesday that stopping the spread of the coronavirus and preventing a sinister outcome was in “their hands”.
“The first thing they should believe is that this thing is in their hands, they can do something to stop it as early as possible,” Dr. Ghebreyesus said at his three-time a week press conference from Geneva.
“The number of cases in Sub-Saharan Africa is around 1600 as we speak,” he said, describing the low number as an “opportunity” that should be used to stop the spread of the virus before things get out of hands.
He said African nations should use that opportunity to stop the spread of the virus by deploying their health care and public health workforce, testing more people, isolating those who test positive, identifying, adapting and equipping facilities to use to treat and isolate patients among other things.
Dr. Ghebreyesus was responding to a question by TODAY NEWS AFRICA‘s Simon Ateba from Washington DC who was relaying the concerns by the Center for Global Development that if Africa and the developing world were left to fight the coronavirus alone, the world would not be safe, and calling for assistance from richer countries.
The WHO boss said although assistance and solidarity were needed to combat the virus, African nations should take their destiny into their own hands.
“But then of course, we have global responsibility as humanity, especially those countries like the G20 (countries) should be able to support countries all over the world, not only from Sub-Saharan Africa, but (low income countries) all over the world (to defeat the coronavirus)” he added.
He echoed the arguments by Dr. Michael Ryan, an Irish doctor and Chief Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, that WHO supports countries all over the world, including in Africa, and called for more solidarity to fight the pandemic together.
In his opening remarks during his press conference on Wednesday, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus unveiled six recommendations he said countries should implement in their fight against COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
“There are six key actions that we recommend. First, expand, train and deploy your health care and public health workforce; Second, implement a system to find every suspected case at community level; Third, ramp up the production, capacity and availability of testing; Fourth, identify, adapt and equip facilities you will use to treat and isolate patients; Fifth, develop a clear plan and process to quarantine contacts; And sixth, refocus the whole of government on suppressing and controlling COVID-19,” he said.
Read his full remarks below
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, wherever you are.
The pandemic continues to take a massive toll not just on health, but on so many parts of life.
Yesterday, the Government of Japan and the International Olympic Committee took a difficult but wise decision to postpone this year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games.
I thank Prime Minister Abe and the members of the IOC for making this sacrifice to protect the health of athletes, spectators and officials.
We look forward to next year’s Olympics and Paralympics, which we hope will be an even bigger and better celebration of our shared humanity – and I look forward to joining.
We have overcome many pandemics and crises before. We will overcome this one too.
The question is how large a price we will pay.
Already we have lost more than 16,000 lives. We know we will lose more – how many more will be determined by the decisions we make and the actions we take now.
To slow the spread of COVID-19, many countries have introduced unprecedented measures, at significant social and economic cost – closing schools and businesses, cancelling sporting events and asking people to stay home and stay safe.
We understand that these countries are now trying to assess when and how they will be able to ease these measures.
The answer depends on what countries do while these population-wide measures are in place.
Asking people to stay at home and shutting down population movement is buying time and reducing the pressure on health systems.
But on their own, these measures will not extinguish epidemics.
The point of these actions is to enable the more precise and targeted measures that are needed to stop transmission and save lives.
We call on all countries who have introduced so-called “lockdown” measures to use this time to attack the virus.
You have created a second window of opportunity. The question is, how will you use it?
There are six key actions that we recommend.
First, expand, train and deploy your health care and public health workforce;
Second, implement a system to find every suspected case at community level;
Third, ramp up the production, capacity and availability of testing;
Fourth, identify, adapt and equip facilities you will use to treat and isolate patients;
Fifth, develop a clear plan and process to quarantine contacts;
And sixth, refocus the whole of government on suppressing and controlling COVID-19.
These measures are the best way to suppress and stop transmission, so that when restrictions are lifted, the virus doesn’t resurge.
The last thing any country needs is to open schools and businesses, only to be forced to close them again because of a resurgence.
Aggressive measures to find, isolate, test, treat and trace are not only the best and fastest way out of extreme social and economic restrictions – they’re also the best way to prevent them.
More than 150 countries and territories still have fewer than 100 cases.
By taking the same aggressive actions now, these countries have the chance to prevent community transmission and avoid some of the more severe social and economic costs seen in other countries.
This is especially relevant for many vulnerable countries whose health systems may collapse under the weight of the numbers of patients we’ve seen in some countries with community transmission.
Today I joined United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Under-Secretary General for UNOCHA Mark Lowcock and UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore to launch the Global Humanitarian appeal, to support the most fragile countries who have already suffered years of acute humanitarian crises.
This is much more than a health crisis, and we’re committed to working as one UN to protect the world’s most vulnerable people from the virus, and its consequences.
We also welcome the Secretary-General’s call for a global ceasefire. We are all facing a common threat, and the only way to defeat it is by coming together as one humanity, because we’re one human race.
We’re grateful to the more than 200,000 individuals and organizations who have contributed to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. Since we launched it less than two weeks ago, the fund has raised more than US$95 million. I would like to offer my deep thanks to GSK for its generous contribution of US$10 million today.
Although we are especially concerned about vulnerable countries, all countries have vulnerable populations, including older people.
Older people carry the collective wisdom of our societies. They are valued and valuable members of our families and communities.
But they are at higher risk of the more serious complications of COVID-19.
We are listening to older people and those who work with and for them, to identify how best we can support them.
We need to work together to protect older people from the virus, and to ensure their needs are being met – for food, fuel, prescription medication and human interaction.
Physical distance doesn’t mean social distance.
We all need to check in regularly on older parents, neighbours, friends or relatives who live alone or in care homes in whatever way is possible, so they know how much they are loved and valued.
All of these things are important at any time, but they are even more important during a crisis.
Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for compelling and creative communications about public health.
Last year, WHO announced our first Health for All Film Festival. The volume, quality and diversity of entries far surpassed our expectations.
We received more than 1,300 entries from 110 countries, and today we are announcing a short list of 45 excellent short films about vital health topics.
We are also announcing a distinguished panel of jurors who will judge the short list, with the winners to be announced in May.
We will be showing all the short-listed films in the coming weeks on our website and social media channels.
In these difficult times, film and other media are a powerful way not only of communicating important health messages, but of administering one of the most powerful medicines – hope.
I thank you.
