ABIDJAN,
Ivory Coast, November 19, 2020/ -- The Board of the African Development
Fund on
Wednesday approved grants worth $28.233 million to Sudan to
shore up the country’s health system to effectively respond and contain
the COVID-19 pandemic, mitigate its social and economic impacts and
build resilience to future pandemics, including climate-induced
outbreaks.
The funding will take the form of an African
Development Fund grant of $26.47 million and a $1.764 million grant
sourced from the Bank’s Transitional Support Facility Envelope. The
grants are being provided under the African Development Bank’s COVID-19
Response Facility.
Under the project, four components will be
rolled out at national and regional levels: Strengthening health systems
and building resilience to respond to COVID-19 and future epidemics and
pandemics; enhancing community engagement and risk communication;
strengthening laboratory testing and surveillance; and project
management.
The first component will include increasing
intensive care units (ICUs), medical equipment and infrastructure and
the establishment of isolation centers. The second element will include
sensitization and community engagement on mask wearing and other hygiene
practices as well as anti-stigma efforts. The proposed laboratory
testing and surveillance interventions include epidemiological
surveillance and rapid response, as well as trainings and adoption of
standard testing procedures. The fourth component is for the project’s
recruitment, management and administrative functions.
The
COVID-19 pandemic and its effects are expected to undo economic gains
the country has made over the last five years as well as slow its
economic recovery. Growth in 2020 is projected to contract by as much as
8.9% owing to the pandemic. Sudan also faces high likelihood of
increasing poverty, high youth unemployment and vulnerability to extreme
climate events such as drought, desertification, deforestation and
flooding.
The project is aligned with the Government of Sudan’s
COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Plan as well as the Bank’s Ten-Year
Strategy, and the High 5 agenda on Improving the Quality of Life for the
People of Africa. It complements other COVID-19 response support that
the Bank is providing to the East African Community (EAC), the
Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the Africa
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) under the
auspices of the African Union (AU).
“By this approval, The
African Development Bank has shown continued commitment to empowering
the people of Sudan to contain this pandemic while supporting the
government of Sudan’s quest for economic development of its people”.
This according to the Country Manager, Raubil Durowoju.
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