Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing

To help increase continental testing efforts and reduce COVID-19 transmission in Africa, Africa CDC launched the Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing
(PACT): Test, Trace, Treat in 2020.

PACT mobilises experts, community workers, supplies and other resources to test, trace and treat COVID-19 cases in a timely manner to minimise the impact of the pandemic on the Africa continent.

With funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Africa Public Health Foundation has expanded Africa CDC activities under PACT in 14 African Union Member States:

  • Burkina Faso
  • Cameroon
  • Chad
  • Congo Republic
  • Côte d’Ivoire
  • Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
  • Eswatini
  • Ghana
  • Liberia
  • Mali
  • Namibia
  • Niger
  • Nigeria
  • Sierra Leone

Project Impact

Training, certification and distribution of COVID-19 rapid antigen tests

905 health workers were trained and 499 certified in the use of rapid antigen tests across 12 African Union Member States. A training of trainers workshop was also delivered in Sierra Leone. After conducting the training sessions, 500,000 were deployed through the project to countries involved. Test kits were used at borders and in areas that showed high prevalence of COVID-19 infection within the country.

Training and deployment of Community Health Workers

An effective response to COVID-19 has to be strongly grounded in the community. The PACT initiative supports Member States to boost COVID-19 response by extending community health workers capacity, knowledge, and numbers to detect cases, trace contacts, create awareness and understanding, provide household support and develop community solutions. Through this initiative, we are working with partners in five countries to train and deploy Community Health Workers.

courtesy of Africa CDC

Liberia: Through Action Aid Liberia, 225 Community Health Workers were trained and deployed

Democratic Republic of Congo: Through Caritas ASBL, 200 Community Health Workers were trained and deployed

Namibia: Through Project Hope Namibia, 403 Community Health Workers were trained and deployed

Republic of Congo: Through Red Cross Congo, 735 Community Health Workers were trained and deployed

Eswatini: Through Red Cross Eswatini, 205 Community Health Workers were trained and deployed

Read more about the impact of this work through the eyes of a Community Health Worker in Eswatini.

Achievements

  1. More than 2.5 Million household visited (Contact tracing, active case search, risk communication activities)
  2. More than 1.6 million contacts Identified
  3. 8% of suspected cases linked to Lab for testing
  4. More than 3 million RCCE sessions contacted

Biosafety and Biosecurity

An important element of this project supports health professionals to improve practice about COVID-19 specific biosafety, biosecurity, and risk assessment. This includes safe and secure transportation, inventory, and storage of test samples.

Working through partners as part of this initiative, Africa CDC has brought together Central, Western, and Southern Africa Member States to guide the continent on bio safety and bio security safety measures. With guidance in place, biosafety and biosecurity trainings in three member states namely Niger, DRC and Congo Brazzaville have taken place. Fifteen laboratory personnel from each country were trained.

Africa Public Health Foundation in Freetown, Sierra Leone for a workshop on Antigen Rapid Diagnostic Test (Ag-RDT) for Covid-19 training of trainers (ToT) organised by Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) in collaboration with the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation