The board of directors of African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $27.33 million grant for the African Union as part of efforts to mobilize a continental response to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The AfDB, in a statement on Wednesday, said the approval follows a meeting of the extended bureau of the conference of heads of state and government with Africa’s private sector on April 22.

Speaking after the board’s approval, Akinwumi Adesina, president of AfDB said: “The bank will strongly support Africa to get through the COVID-19 pandemic and build back, strongly and smartly”.

“The bank’s financial support to the Africa Centre for Disease Control (Africa CDC), reaffirms our strong commitment to regional efforts to tackle the pandemic being coordinated by the African Union.

“Africa needs a well-financed Africa CDC, today and for the future.”

According to the statement, AfDB’s grant financing will also support the Africa CDC in providing technical assistance and building capacity for 37 African development fund (ADF) eligible countries, particularly the transition states, to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigate its impact.

The bank said these two grants will support the implementation of Africa CDC’s COVID-19 pandemic preparedness and response plan through strengthening surveillance at various points of entry (air, sea, and land) in African countries; building sub-regional and national capacity for epidemiological surveillance, and ensuring the availability of testing materials and personal protective equipment for frontline workers deployed in hotspots.

The statement further disclosed that at the outbreak of COVID-19 in Africa, only two laboratories in the continent (in Senegal and South Africa) could run tests for COVID-19 on the continent.

“The Africa CDC, working with governments, the World Health Organization (WHO) and several development partners and public health institutes, have increased this capacity to 44 countries currently.

“Despite this progress, Africa’s testing capacity remains low, with the 37 ADF-eligible countries accounting for only 40 percent of completed COVID-19 tests to date.”

Wambui Gichuri, AfFB’s acting vice president, agriculture, human and social development, said: “Our response today and support to the AU is timely and will play a crucial role in helping Africa look inward for solutions to build resilience to this pandemic and future outbreaks”.

“This support will complement various national and sub-regional operations financed by the AfDB under its COVID-19 response facility to support African countries to contain and mitigate the impacts of the pandemic.”