The African Union Commission convened a virtual meeting on 18 August 2020 with African ministers of health and transport to discuss progress made and status of the Continental Response to COVID-19, and to introduce the Africa CDC’s campaign, Africa Against COVID-19: Saving Lives, Economies, and Livelihoods.

In her opening remarks, AUC Commissioner for Social Affairs, H.E. Mrs Amira Elfadil, welcomed the commissioners and ministers to the meeting and introduced H.E. Dr Amani Abou-Zeid, Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy as co-chair of the meeting. H.E. Commissioner Elfadil recalled the 26 March meeting of the Bureau of the African Union Heads of State and Government, where the Member States endorsed the need for a Joint Continental Strategy to respond to COVID-19. She also remarked that the continent had surpassed the 1 million mark of reported COVID-19 cases and noted that Member States should remain vigilant and plan for the next phase of the pandemic.

H.E. Dr Amani Abou-Zeid, Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, in her opening remarks, also welcomed fellow commissioners and ministers, and recalled the establishment of the Specialized Technical Committee (STC) of Transport Ministers, and their April 2020 meeting to find solutions to disruptions created by the closure of the transport sector, including supply chain management systems, humanitarian activities, foreign currency, and trade.

The meeting continued with remarks by H.E. Mbalula Fikile, Minister of Transport for the Republic of South Africa. In addition to sharing an update on the transport sector’s response to COVID-19 in South Africa, H.E. Minister Fikile thanked Ethiopian Airlines and Egypt Air for transporting medical equipment as well as providing humanitarian flights for responders fighting the pandemic on the ground at the country level. He noted that South Africa has eased the lockdown from Level 5 to Level 2, after achieving an 80% recovery rate, and while still enforcing standard public health measures to slow the transmission of coronavirus.

H.E. Dr Joe Phaahla, Deputy Minister of Health for the Republic of South Africa followed after, and shared high-level updates on the epidemiological situation in the country. He further stated that the ongoing pandemic did present opportunities to improve the country’s health sector through the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), laboratory services, infection prevention and control, and clinical management.

It was then that AU Commissioners shared brief interventions, including H.E. Prof. Victor Harison, Commissioner for Economic Affairs, H.E. Prof Sarah Anyang, Commissioner for Human Resources Science and Technology, H.E. Ambassador Josefa Sacko Commissioner for Agriculture, and H.E. Cessouma Samate, Commissioner for Political Affairs. Commissioners highlighted efforts by their respective departments developed to respond against the negative impact of the COVID-19.

Next, H.E. Dr Amani Abou-Zeid, Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy presented updates on the restart and recovery of the transport sector on the continent, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. highlighted that the precautionary measures implemented by member States, while necessary, impacted all transport modes, causing disruption to the supply chains especially for medical and food supplies as well as for the necessary inputs to production. She noted that the hardest hit was the air transport and consequently regional mobility, trade and tourism — a main source of revenue for Africa. For her presentation, H.E. Dr Amani Abou-Zeid, Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, AUC, highlighted the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on each of the transport sub-sectors, including air, land, sea, or urban transport. In the field of air transport, 51% revenue losses were estimated at USD 2.2 billion for African airports, due to restrictions in aviation activities. Moreover, cash liquidity challenges and fluctuations in foreign currencies have and will continue to result in job losses for the airlines, airports, and air navigation service providers.

H.E. Dr Amani Abou-Zeid, Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy stated that Regarding air transport, AU Infrastructure and Energy Department led the continental initiatives to allow the restart of civil aviation in Africa together with specialised agencies AFCAC and AFRAA, RECs, ICA, and regional representatives of international organisations. IED actively participates in the global High Level Task Force convened by ICAO which drafted the global guidelines and reports to position the aviation sector on a path to restart, recovery and sustainability — and that in collaboration with stakeholders WHO, IATA, the air industry. The restart and recovery reports and guidelines have been shared with all Member States in July 2020.

Finally, H. E. Dr, Amani Abou-Zeid proposed five key actions in the medium and longer terms. First, she proposed the establishment and/or reinforcement of national plans and national facilitation committees to implement continental relief measures in all modes of Transport. Secondly, she proposed to ensure access to sufficient financial, human resources and equipment to support operations. Third, she recommended resource mobilization by AUC, African States, financial institutions, international partners and stakeholders to contribute to the financial package to competitively reposition and enable African transport sector to survive as well as recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Fourth, prioritization of transport sector needs by governments and strengthening of dialogue to implement the proposed restart and recovery measures. Finally, the harmonization of procedures on the continent is essential to strengthen public and passenger air travel. Member States should establish and enforce Aviation public health procedures aligned to WHO and Africa CDC guidelines. 

Dr John Nkengasong, Director for Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), provided a brief, high-level epidemiological update of the COVID-19 transmission on the continent, as well as progress made on initiatives undertaken by Africa CDC. He highlighted that several milestones from the Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing in Africa (PACT) had been achieved; including surpassing the target 10 million COVID-19 tests conducted on the continent, as well as the successful deployment of the African Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP), where Member States can procure essential medical supplies.

Dr Nkengasong remarked that the pandemic has transitioned to the next phase on the continent, and that the following points indicated a need for swift preventative measures: 1) As Member States are begin to ease lockdowns, cross border travel is increasing; 2) as borders reopen, there are varying levels of recognition for COVID-19 testing across countries; and 3) there is a need to coordinate strategies for ensuring the safe reopening of borders, as per the Joint Continental Strategy.

Dr Nkengasong then introduced to ministers of health and transport, the Africa Against COVID-19: Saving Lives, Economies, and Livelihoods campaign to protect borders, travel, economies, livelihoods, and schools. The director remarked on the three overarching goals of the campaign: 1) protecting borders and travel through harmonized testing procedures and certification, 2) protecting economies and livelihoods through enhanced surveillance and exchange of information at inter- and intra-economic regions and business points, and 3) protecting schools through risk assessment and management and strengthening of resources to protect staff and students. The director emphasized that all three goals of the campaign will be supported through the continued implementation and of the PACT initiative and through innovative partnerships with the private sector.

Dr Nkengasong invited Dr Edem Adzogenu and Mr Bright Simons from AfroChampions, and Mr Oswald Jumira from Econet Group to share highlights of their respective technology platforms, and how they would serve as the underpinning for the campaign, providing centralized, real-time COVID-19-related data for governments, businesses, and related entities. Dr Nkengasong then reiterated the need for trusted testing through unified certification, the sharing of information and data, and the need for partnerships with a consortium of private sector entities to develop innovative solutions. Dr John Nkengasong, Director for Africa CDC concluded with the following key messages: i) the whole of African society is needed to develop a coordinated strategy in order to make this engagement successful, including health, political, and civil society sectors, ii) the campaign will require collaboration and multiple partnerships with the private sector in order to develop innovative solutions, and iii) the Commission will be leaning on Ministers of Health and Ministers of Transport to help implement the campaign from a technical point and encouraged them to join in the harmonized approach to reopen Member States

Ministers of health and transport took note of progress made in addressing challenges in the transport sector and the Africa CDC’s COVID-19 response efforts, as well as the institution’s latest campaign to protect borders, economies, and livelihoods in Member States.

Following the presentations, the Commission urged ministers of health and transport to come together in support the Africa CDC’s latest efforts to develop a harmonized strategy to slow transmission of coronavirus as Member States reopen their borders and economies. H.E. Amira Elfadil, Commissioner for Social Affairs, reiterated the need for coordination throughout the entire African society, and with that, officially launched the Africa Against COVID-19: Saving Lives, Economies, and Livelihoods campaign.

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