The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom on Monday said Africa reacted better to the pandemic not only because of the very low average age of its population but also because of its long experience in managing epidemics, reported CGTN Africa.
“Our continent’s relatively young population means Africa has not seen the same scale of severe disease and death as other regions with older populations,” said the WHO chief in a video message at the Africa Health Agenda International Conference 2021. “Africa has also benefited from its long experience in applying basic public health tools to prevent and respond to outbreaks of infectious disease.”
Tedros said that the current distribution of vaccines will help bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control. He lauded the way the governments of Kenya and Rwanda managed the emergency.
The WHO head revealed that around 14 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been delivered to 19 countries in Africa through the WHO’s COVAX initiative, with more countries expected to receive doses this week.
He called on leaders to boost their nations’ capacities to enhance disease prevention and preparedness to mitigate the impact of disease outbreaks through the greater political commitment.
According to the latest tally by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the continent had reported 3,966,355 infections by Monday. The death toll related to the pandemic stood at 105,722, while 3,540,989 patients across the continent had recovered from the disease.
The most affected countries in terms of the number of confirmed positive cases include South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, and Ethiopia, the agency said.
South Africa has lost 50,678 lives to the deadly virus, the most among African countries.
On Sunday, Africa CDC Director John Nkengasong said African countries were facing several challenges, as they were in bad need of vaccines. He also emphasized the need to strictly adhere to public health precautionary measures.
