The African Union Commission and the African centre for disease control and prevention have launched a new initiative to help manage the COVID 19 virus on the continent.
The new initiatives, the Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing (PACT), Trace, Test and Track (CDC-T3).
The initiative was endorsed by African ministers of Health on Saturday 22nd of February 2020 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to facilitate the implementation of the African Joint Continental Strategy for the COVID 19.
The initiative was approved by the Bureau of the Assembly of African Union Heads of State and Government on Thursday 26th of March 2020.
The goal of this initiative is to prevent severe cases and deaths from the COVID 19 virus in Africa among its member states and to minimise economic and social destruction from the pandemic outbreak.
The initiative aims to strengthen the testing capacity for the virus across the continent and make sure that a minimum of 10 million Africans who have not been tested get tested within the next 6 months.