26 Aug Equatorial Guinea participates in the 70 session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa
The virtual meeting focused on the region’s response to COVID-19 and the declaration of Africa as a Polio-free territory
Equatorial Guinea participated, on August 25, 2020, in the 70th session of the Regional Committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) for Africa. The virtual meeting focused on the region’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the declaration of Africa as a Polio-free territory.
The Equatorial Guinean delegation was made up of the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Diosdado Vicente Nsue Milang, the Vice Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Mitoha Ondo’o Ayekaba, the Director General of Public Health, Dr. Manuel Nguema, the Advisor of the Minister of Health in Public Health, Dr. Oumar Balde, the Incident Manager Coordinator of the WHO, Dr. Alain Poy and the National Director of the Health Information System, José Osá Osá Nfumu.
During the meeting, the Minister of Health and Social Welfare of Equatorial Guinea reviewed the situation of COVID-19 in our country, pointing out the data registered, as of August 22, 2020, of 4,926 confirmed cases of which 3,795 have been recovered and 83 have died (for more information see statistics on the MINSABS website). And he announced that “today the massive testing campaign begins in the continental region of Equatorial Guinea.”
Dr. Diosdado Vicente Nsue Milang highlighted the effort of the Equatorial Guinean Government in achieving high analytical capacity thanks to the acquisition of additional PCR equipment and robots and achieving 1,500 daily tests. The Minister of Health and Social Welfare explained, before the WHO Regional Committee for Africa, that two large isolation units have been built to deal with the pandemic, an appropriate treatment protocol for COVID-19 has been approved and that MINSABS has the support of 76 Cuban doctors and a WHO team made up of four international consultants.
The 70th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa was attended by WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu, WHO Regional Director Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, Dangote Group founder Aliko Dangote, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, the President of the Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, and the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, among others. During this session the Declaration of Africa as Polio Free Territory was celebrated, after Nigeria was the last African country certified by the Regional Certification Commission for Africa. Equatorial Guinea was declared a polio-free country last September 2019, soon a year ago, thanks to the commitment of His Excellency the Head of State and the generalized effort of all health workers in our country.