The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $10 million in emergency funds and technical support to help frontline responders in China and Africa accelerate their efforts to contain the global spread of novel Coronavirus.safely isolate and care for patients and accelerate the development of treatments and vaccines.
According to the foundation, its partners include the National Health Commission and Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention; the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
The foundation further said it would immediately commit N5 million to assist the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in scaling up public health measures against coronavirus among African Union member states.
“These measures will include technical support to implement the screening and treatment of suspected cases, laboratory confirmation of 2019-nCoV diagnoses and the safe isolation and care of identified cases,” it said.
The new coronavirus (known as 2019-nCoV) was first reported in Wuhan City, China, on Dec. 31, 2019, and has since been detected in 10 other countries, including Thailand, Japan, France and the US.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is guided by the belief that every life has equal value, and works to help all people lead healthy and productive lives.
In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty.
source: Punch
