World News | New Test-and-treat Project for Covid-19 Launched in 10 African Countries
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. A new test-and-treat consortium to support Ministries of Health in 10 low and middle-income countries in Africa was launched, amid growing concerns that the Covid-19 subvariant Omicron BA.5 has become the primary source of infections, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.
Johannesburg, Sep 9 (PTI) A new test-and-treat consortium to support Ministries of Health in 10 low and middle-income countries in Africa was launched, amid growing concerns that the Covid-19 subvariant Omicron BA.5 has become the primary source of infections, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.
The effort to close gaps in access to new COVID-19 medicines aims to provide oral antiviral treatments to high-risk patients and scale up wider access in 2023.
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The COVID Treatment Quick Start Consortium (QSC) brings together Duke University, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), COVID Collaborative, and Americares as implementing partners, with support from the Open Society Foundations, Pfizer and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.
The project was launched on Thursday, and the consortium will support governments to introduce and scale up access to new and effective COVID-19 oral antiviral therapies in high-risk populations and expects patients to start receiving treatment in select countries from this month.
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The partner countries include Ghana, Kenya, Laos, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Dr. Krishna Udayakumar, Founding Director of the Duke Global Health Innovation Centre, said QSC is partnering with governments to bring urgently needed medicines to high-risk populations in countries that do not have easy access to such innovations.
“We have seen throughout the global COVID-19 response that new life-saving interventions like vaccines and treatments are not quickly reaching those most in need around the world,” Udayakumar said.
Prof Claude Muvunyi, Director General at the Rwanda Biomedical Centre, welcomed the new plan.
“The QSC will help us to continue to build and strengthen a resilient healthcare system, quickly find the patients who need treatment, and make sure they get needed medicines — regardless of socio-economic status. Like so many other diseases, COVID-19 won't go away if you just ignore it,” Muvunyi said.
The project will kick-start programmes through a donation by Pfizer of 100,000 courses of PAXLOVID (nirmatrelvir/ritonavir), for which the WHO issued a strong recommendation for use in high-risk individuals with mild to moderate COVID-19, administered within five days of symptom onset.
These test-and-treat programs will shift to using quality assured, low-cost generics when they become available to facilitate wider adoption throughout low-and middle-income countries.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)