Moving Beyond the Acute Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa – Africa CDC

On May 5, 2023, more than three years after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), its status was lifted. rice field. In a report, the Emergency Commission on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) lifted status due to increased global vaccination coverage and declining rates of death and serious illness requiring hospitalization. recommended.

The African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) recognizes the importance of moving to a long-term control strategy and welcomes this strategic shift. The African Union has provided comprehensive strategic, technical and logistical support to member states through the Africa CDC. This assistance has helped effectively mitigate the serious health impacts and deaths originally expected on the continent.

As of 30 April 2023, a total of 12,294,440 COVID-19 cases and 257,032 deaths (CFR: 2.1%) were reported by 55 African Union (AU) Member States (MS). This represents 2% of all reported cases and 4% of all deaths worldwide. From 1 January to 30 April 2023, 74,611 new cases and 508 new deaths of COVID-19 were reported across the continent. Same period last year. The number of cases reported during this period in 2023 was the lowest recorded for the same period in the last three years on the continent.

“To continue to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on our continent, I urge African Union Member States to provide COVID-19 vaccines, including primary and booster COVID-19 vaccinations for all vulnerable populations. We maintain a range of approaches to scale-up immunization, saving lives and livelihoods, which will increase the level of preparedness should a COVID-19 surge occur.” – Jean Kaseya, Africa CDC Executive Director Doctor.

This strategic shift will strengthen and build on the gains made by Member States during the pandemic response while addressing setbacks resulting from a narrowly focused approach to the COVID-19 response. Africa CDC initiated this phased transition phase in August 2022 by adopting various policies and strategies, including: Revised COVID-19 Testing and Surveillance Strategy, Moving from Emergency Response to Integration into Routine Health Services

Africa CDC is adapting its strategy to:

1. Vaccinate high-risk target segments of the African population for 100% coverage of essential workers and vulnerable populations
2. Develop strategic policies and operational plans for booster doses to vulnerable populations, considering logistical requirements, modified risk communication, community engagement messaging, integration, and equity
3. Integrate the COVID-19 response into primary health care systems in a way that addresses the needs and priorities of Member States
4. Supporting Genome Sequencing by Integrating and Strengthening Testing Systems Across Multiple Countries
5. It focuses on health worker training, especially epidemiology for both respiratory disease and COVID-19 surveillance, and sentinel surveillance and integrated disease surveillance and response (IDSR).
6. Recruitment of 50 national coordinators for deployment to various AU Member States to support primary health care systems and early warning data systems
7. Ensure timely access to continent-level data for effective early warning and new outbreak detection
8. Invest in implementation research to answer important questions about COVID-19, vaccines and their impact on the healthcare system as a whole

The Africa CDC is keenly aware that lives are at stake and the challenges are immense, and is committed to working with WHO and other United Nations (UN) agencies, African-based organizations, bilateral and multilateral partners. emphasizes the need for sustainable, action-oriented partnerships.Africa CDC continues to actively participate COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Partnership (CoVDP) The Alliance for COVID-19 believes there is an opportunity to expand the reach of the Alliance beyond COVID-19.

In view of the above, Africa CDC will continue to focus on two main pillars during this transition phase.

1. Coordinate the transition from COVID-19-specific interventions to continuous mechanisms at the continental level for public health emergency preparedness and response.
2. Supporting AU Member States in the transition to the post-acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on:
   a) Enhance testing and monitoring capabilities and support integration into routine systems.
   b) Facilitating access, targeting, integration and local manufacturing of vaccines
   c) workforce development;
   d) Strengthen medical and public health systems, with particular focus on the National Institutes of Public Health and the Public Health Emergency Operations Center.
   e) access to measures;
   f) Communication and social mobilization.

To facilitate this coordination and cooperation, the Africa CDC, through the AU, has developed the “Africa CDC Transition Strategy for COVID-19 Response in Africa”.

Africa CDC urges member states to recognize that COVID-19 remains a clear and present danger. As such, we need momentum to strengthen our alert and response systems in a way that also advances our primary health care system to enable the continent to best detect and respond to COVID-19 and other respiratory disease outbreaks. maintaining is essential.

In conclusion, the removal of COVID-19 PHEIC status is an important step towards a new phase in the management of COVID-19 and through its transition strategy the Africa CDC will help AU Member States prepare and respond to COVID-19. continue to support 19 and other health threats.

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