KIU, Main Campus - On 20th May 2020, the UK Government announced its donation of $26 million channelled through the African Union to fund the training of health professionals in member states to handle pandemics, and also cushion Africa from the effects of COVID-19.

The deployment of experts will be done through the Africa Centres for Disease and Control Prevention (Africa CDC), which currently has about 800 voluntary health corps.

The donation is the highest amount of money so far deposited into the Africa COVID-19 Fund, which was set up in April with initial funding of $12.5 million. The fund, which was established by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, currently the Chairperson of the African Union had raised $38 million by the end of April.

The UK government says the money will also be used to strengthen global tracking of the pandemic and combat misinformation to the public; seeking to make information more accessible, create awareness through weekly virtual meetings for African clinicians, publish technical guidelines in AU languages and convene AU member states to agree on a continental response to the virus.

c��?No one is safe until we all are safe, and this new funding and support for African leadership will help protect us all from further spread of the virus,c⬝ said Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the UK International Development Secretary.

The support from the UK comes after it had internationally pledged about $950 million to fight Coronavirus. This big boost, together with the UKAid funding of $990 million, will help vulnerable countries in fighting the virus as well as strengthen health systems.

Africa has so far recorded 95,482 cases, 3000 deaths, and 38,120 recoveries.

Picture credit: ukaiddirect.org