African countries have pulled together to set up a one-stop shop to give the continent a fairer chance in the international scramble for COVID-19 test kits, protective equipment and any vaccines that emerge.
The Africa Medical Supplies Platform is to work like eBay or Amazon, unlocking access to supplies across the continent, and could save billions of dollars.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said it was the “silver lining” to COVID-19, and “the glue that is going to bind the continent together.”
It “will address shortages and security of supply, ensure price competitiveness and transparency in procurement, reduce logistical delays, simplify payment processes and provide a common platform where governments can access services from quality and certified suppliers,” Ramaphosa said during the digital launch.
Ramaphosa spoke in his capacity as African Union chair after tasking Zimbabwean mobile mogul and philanthropist Strive Masiyiwa to come up with solutions to the shortage of test kits.
Lockdowns are already being lifted to stimulate flagging economies even as coronavirus infections are on the rise.
COVID-19 infections were first recorded in sub-Saharan Africa in March, mostly imported from Europe and the US.
As of Friday, Africa had registered 275,327 cases and more than 7,400 deaths. South Africa alone accounted for more than a third of the recorded infections.
Masiyiwa said that, across Africa, the average number of tests per 1 million people was 1,669 because of a worldwide shortage of kits, compared with 173,029 in Iceland, 44,123 in the US and 31,592 in the UK.
“Testing and lockdown are two sides of the same coin,” Masiyiwa said.
UN Economic Commission for Africa executive secretary Vera Songwe said that lockdowns are losing the continent an estimated US$65 billion a month.
“If we can use a third of this amount to test, we don’t have to lock down. This platform could save us US$40 billion [in losses],” she said.
The platform is set to be run as a non-profit by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Ethiopia and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in Egypt, which is already managing a US$3.8 billion COVID-19 fund for the continent.
This fund would be used to cover freight costs so that small and remote countries, such as the Seychelles, would pay the same prices as Senegal, Masiyiwa said.
Ethiopian Airways and South African Airways are to help with shipments to hubs like Addis Ababa and Johannesburg so that volumes can be leveraged to lower costs, Masiyiwa said.
While preference would be given to continental suppliers, such as South African company Invicta, which has pledged to supply 10,000 inexpensive ventilators, or Senegal’s US$1 rapid test kits, supplies would also be shipped from countries like China.
“What we do is demonstrate the power of volume, which we as Africa always have known we can unleash,” Masiyiwa said.
Governments experiencing financial difficulties would be able to open credit lines with Afreximbank, while potential international debt forgiveness could go some way toward paying for supplies.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was