Strengthening Surge Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa
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by
AFENET
Funder: Vital Strategies
Project period: 31 August 2021 to 31 July 2022.
Background:
The current COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how outbreaks of emerging diseases can disrupt lives, health systems and economies across the globe in a short time. To reduce the impact of such events, rapid and effective response to disease outbreaks is required, yet this still remains a challenge, particularly in developing countries due to inherent deficiencies in national epidemic preparedness and response systems, and delayed mobilization of resources. Lessons learnt from recent outbreaks that rapidly progressed to international health emergencies underscore the need for availability of a readily accessible emergency fund to enable rapid, adequate and effective outbreak response. In some countries, national public health institutes, such as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), with support of development partners (RTSL), have established a fund to ensure timely availability of resources for disease outbreak response. A similar fund has been established to support other countries (Guinea, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Togo, Tanzania, Zambia, Kenya, and Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe) however, it requires replenishment.
Objectives:
- To ensure transparent and accountable governance of the revolving fund.
- To ensure replenishment of the fund by governments and other partners.
Expected outcome(s):
Timeliness of disbursement (within 24-48 hours of request)
- Replenishment by government and other partners
