AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE East African Community (EAC) has unveiled a comprehensive Covid-19 Response Plan to reinforce measures to protect and prevent further spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Among key interventions proposed in the plan are risk communication and community engagement that will entail strengthening sensitisation programmes and awareness creation on Covid-19.
The response plan further seeks to ensure access to Infection, Prevention and Control (IPC) materials, laboratory supplies and equipment by the EAC organs and institutions, and the EAC partner states.
Another key intervention is to strengthen the region’s capacity for Covid-19 surveillance and reporting at all key border points, and build knowledge on safety measures, existing prevention and control strategies, and relevant regional guidelines.
EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of the Productive and Social Sectors, Mr Christophe B azivamo, unveiled the plan on behalf of the Secretary General, Ambassador Liberat Mfumukeko.
The response plan was developed following a directive by the joint meeting of ministers responsible for health, trade and EAC affairs held via video conference, which directed the EAC Secretariat to finalise and submit the EAC Regional COV ID-19 Response Plan to the Partner States.
Mr B azivamo divulged other proposed measures as building regional capacity to support partner states on surveillance, monitoring and coordination of preparedness and response to the pandemic, research, development and resource mobilisation.
“The EAC is working with partner states and development partners to mobilize various stakeholders to achieve a broad coalition in stepping up preparedness against Covid- 19 in the region. These include airport authorities in partner states’ points of entry, government regulatory agencies and other regional organizations,” noted Mr B azivamo.
Among the efforts taken so far by the community include training of EAC Mobile Laboratory experts with one expert per partner state having completed training on Covid- 19 laboratory diagnosis at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
The community has also procured nine mobile laboratories and is finalising distribution of the same to partner states. The mobile labs have a biosafety level three quarters capable of diagnosing Ebola and Covid-19.
“Staff from the partner states have been trained and the laboratories are currently being handed over to respective countries with B urundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda having already received their labs. Each EAC partner state has received 100 test kits with an additional 500 having been ordered and will be will be distributed to them as soon as they are received,” said Mr B azivamo.
The bulk of the response will be managed at partner states’ level with few regional interventions being coordinated by the EAC Regional Ad Hoc Coordination Committee (EARCC) that has been renamed Regional Taskforce on Covid-19.
It is linked to the national taskforce of each partner state and works closely with implementing agencies including GIZ , Trade- Mark East Africa, JICA and USAID KEA.
