The covid-19 pandemic has caused a global shortage of necessary medical supplies, particularly in Africa, where several countries have banded together to purchase supplies and get better prices, according to the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
The African CDC is organizing a digital purchasing system that will let African governments jointly order chemical reagents and nasal swabs. The system will also link African governments with Chinese suppliers of both diagnostics and equipment including masks and gowns.
“If we come together and pool through the Africa CDC as a specialized agency of the African Union, they bring some political leverage to that,” Dr. John Nkengasong, director of the Africa CDC, told the Financial Times.
Africa CDC is a division of the African Union. The pooling platform was launched under a mandate from its Bureau of Heads of State led by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Because African countries typically order medical equipment in small quantities, they are often locked out of the market by larger and wealthier countries that can pay and buy more.
Often outbid by richer countries and not getting medical gear sent from top aid donors to the U.S., African officials are under pressure in the battle against coronavirus. According to the United Nations, 74 million test kits and 30,000 ventilators will be needed by the continent’s 1.3 billion people this year — and that’s the best-case scenario. But Africa has very little of the equipment and supplies in hand, Time reported.
“We are competing with the developed world,” said Africa CDC director Nkengasong. “The very future of the continent will depend on how this matter is handled.”
By pooling their orders, African countries can better compete in the global market, Nkengasong said.
Africa CDC is working with its Chinese counterpart as a bridge to connect countries with certified suppliers and to negotiate set prices. “The key thing to understand here is that you have to have the volumes,” Nkengasong said. “So you pool say from Mali, from Togo, Cameroon, and then they can now approach the correct companies in China and say look, we are going to place an order of 5 million, and you have to deliver 1 million every week — that’s how you become competitive in this market.”
Africa has been getting most of its equipment from China, including 1.5 million test kits donated by the Jack Ma Foundation.
Soon after its formation, the African Union received more than 100,000 test kits from a German source, Time reported.
Even though Africa-China relations have been on shaky ground as of late over the mistreatment of Africans in China, Africa CDC has been working closely with China for medical help and supplies.
“We recently held a special webinar involving 32 African Union (AU) member states with Chinese experts to discuss case management of COVID-19 patients in Wuhan and traditional Chinese medicine as an alternative treatment to COVID-19,” said Nkengasong.
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He added, “In the past week, Africa CDC held the ninth weekly seminar on clinical-community practice involving 312 active participants to discuss current treatment approaches to COVID-19.”
There are about 1,000 Chinese medical experts working in Africa long-term, according to China’s National Health Commission.
China together with the Jack Ma foundation has organized webinars for African medical professionals on how to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, said Benjamin Djoudalbaye, head of policy, health diplomacy and communications at Africa CDC, in a Xinhua Net report. Webinars included emergency set up, on-field medical treatment and intensive care unit treatment.
