The ACP (Africa/Caribbean/Pacific) Group of States, concerned about the new Coronavirus pandemic, is cooperating with the EU and the World Health Organization (WHO) in order to help strengthen the preparedness capacity of its member countries, announced the group's Secretary General, Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti, on Tuesday 17 March. €25 million from the European Development Fund (EDF) might be mobilised for this purpose. On Wednesday, the first COVID-19 death was announced in Burkina Faso (following another in Sudan).
“The ACP Group of States is particularly concerned by the state of preparedness of at-risk countries, which are characterised as being those with low-income and/or weaker health systems, many of which are ACP Member States”, said the Secretary General.
He also noted that “the ACP Group of States is collaborating, as a matter of urgency, with the European Union (EU) to mobilise a further €25 million from the appropriate 11th EDF instrument to be channelled through the WHO”.
The objective is twofold: - to assist countries in accelerating the implementation of their national health security action plans by strengthening health systems; - to improve preparedness for national, regional and global health emergencies beyond COVID-19.
The ACP Secretariat, which is located in Brussels, has been temporarily closed since 17 March in order to comply with the containment measures put in place by the Belgian Government. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)