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EAC states agree on joint plan to fight coronavirus
A health worker uses an oral swab to collect a sample from a man during the Covid-19 mass testing exercise inducted by Kenya’s Ministry of Health in Nairobi, Kenya, recently. PHOTO/AFP
T he East African Community (EAC) member states have agreed to hamornise a regional response to the Covid-19 pandemic amid increasing infections.
Mr Christophe Bazivamo, the EAC deputy secretary general in charge of productive and social sector, told a video conference of regional ministers of Health, Trade, Transport and East African Affairs on Friday that the Covid-19 EAC Regional Taskforce had finalised the plan to ensure a joint and well-coordinated mechanism to fight the pandemic.
Mr Bazivamo also told the ministers that EAC Secretariat through the EAC Network of Public Health Reference Laboratories for Communicable Diseases had received a grant of €500,000 (Shs2.3b) to strengthen the mobile laboratory capacity to test for Covid-19.
“The funds were intended to, among other things, purchase and supply adequate tests to facilitate scale-up of testing in East Africa (1,000 Covid-19 test kits per partner state) and the supply of essential personal protective equipment (PPEs) in addition to those already procured under the Support to the Ebola response,” he said.
Local production
The ministers and EAC secretariat agreed that the member states should support local production of essential medical products and supplies such as masks, sanitisers, soaps, processed food, and ventilators.
On a harmonised approach to testing services across the region, the ministers urged partner states to undertake standardised testing based on approved World Health Organisation methodologies.
They requested the Finance ministers to analyse the impact of the pandemic on the fiscal and monetary sectors of EAC and recommend an appropriate fiscal plan.
The ministers also directed the EAC Secretariat to submit the Covid-19 response plan to the partner states, and urged them to submit their inputs on the plan within a week from the date of submission of the document.
A press release from the EAC Secretariat in Arusha, Tanzania, on Friday, stated that the partner states were experiencing challenges in facilitating movement of goods and services, and called on speedy implementation of the regional protocols to address the delays.
The ministers directed the EAC Secretariat in collaboration with partner states to implement a sensitisation programmme to destigmatise truck drivers and Covid-19 recoverees.
They also directed the EAC Secretariat to coordinate the activities under the sensitisation programmes.
The ministers requested their Finance counterparts to establish special purpose financing schemes for small and medium enterprise.
The region’s key productive sectors are already experiencing a slowdown as a result of the pandemic, with sectors such as agriculture, trade, manufacturing and industry, tourism, offline retail and catering being the worst affected.
Among the negative impacts on the regional economy are a food crisis in East Africa and severe disruptions in manufacturing and industry value chains.
ISSUES AT HAND
The consultative meeting called by Dr Vincent Biruta, the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers, and Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, among others, discussed progress made on the facilitation of the free movement of goods and services in the region; assessment of state of play on cross border clearance of cargo and truck drivers at Malaba and Busia during the COVID 19 pandemic.
They also discussed the impact of the pandemic on the region’s productive capacities and impact on macroeconomic stability. The ministers commended the partner states, WHO and Africa CDC for the efforts being made towards addressing the Covid-19, and the steps taken to contain the disease and prevent further spread in the EAC region.
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