Focus More on Africa, UNESCO Laureate Urges WHO

UNESCO Laureate, Professor Sir Bashiru Aremu has appealed to World Health Organisation (WHO) on being proactive in its intervention and focus more on African Continent.

This he said in line with the recent Reports of the Global Health Agency  on Friday  that the pandemic coronavirus could kill up to 190,000 people in Africa in the first year if control measures fail to work.

UNESCO Laureate, Professor Sir Bashiru Aremu who disclosed this stated that the United Nations health agency which cited a new study has warned the numbers would overwhelm available medical capacity in many parts of the continent.

UNESCO Laureate believes the  coronavirus reports that  190, 000 people in Africa could be killed can be averted with WHO’s proactive measures.

UNESCO Laureate said that the report credited to the Africa Regional Director, WHO, Matshidiso Moeti said transmission of the virus in the continent has been slower but could result in a longer outbreak.

The reports said:“While coronavirus likely won’t spread as exponentially in Africa as elsewhere in the world, it likely will smoulder in transmission hotspots.”

UNESCO Laureate then commended the  agency for the  proposed strengthening of the health care systems in the African continent.

UNESCO Laureate Prof Sir Bashiru Aremu said according to the BBC “COVID-19 could become a fixture in our lives for the next several years unless a proactive approach is taken by many governments in the region. We need to test, trace, isolate, and treat”.

Dr. Moeti added: “Currently, there are 54, 000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, and 2, 073 deaths in Africa”.

“However, 18, 412 persons had been effectively managed and recovered from the disease across the continent”.

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UNESCO Laureate said:”The latest data by the John Hopkins University and Africa Center for Disease Control on COVID-19 in Africa revealed that countries confirm cases as and when”.

“The whole of the continent except Lesotho had been recording rising COVID-19 infections since the beginning of the year”.

UNESCO Laureate Prof Sir Bashiru Aremu has appeal to WHO and other United Nations agencies to focus more on the Africa for this Coronavirus disease to prevent spread of it in Africa and and world at large.