Ethiopia: EU-IGAD Cross-Border Response Crucial to Curb Covid-19 Impact

The European Union (EU) and Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) cross-border response on health and socio-economic impact of COVID-19 in the IGAD region said fundamental to ease the pandemic.

In a press release sent to The Ethiopian Herald, IGAD is working with member states so strengthen cross border COVID-19 and other epidemic disease surveillance.

EU-IGAD COVID-19 Response Regional Coordinator Dr. Girum Hailu said that the IGAD cross-border committee meeting that held in different member states sought to promote swift measures to curb the pandemic and its health and socio-economic impacts.

IGAD identified 47 major cross-border committee meeting sites in the eight member states to coordinate and facilitate the authority’s efforts to contain the virus and its challenges, he added.

As to him, the IGAD is undertaking consultations on COVID-19 prevention and control with pertinent stakeholders in Metema site that comprised from border agencies, customs office, health sector, emigration agency, community representatives as well as other law enforcement agencies.

“The consultation sets to strengthen cross-border health service and ensure pandemic response improvement. IGAD provides various COVID-19 prevention tools to border residents including Ambulances, mobile laboratories, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), sanitizer, and COVID-19 treatment test kits.”

More importantly, EU-IGAD intervention is vital to ensure safe and secured trade borders in the region by enhancing the testing capacity of the member states, he stressed.

Moreover, capacity building trainings are given to the health professionals in the cross-border areas to encouragetheefforts of building a healthy community and secured trade zone.

The project prioritizes vulnerablelike migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and host Communities that are expected to be highly affected COVID-19 and other natural and man-made disasters, according to him.

The project addresses more than 1.9 million people in the IGAD region and deliverssustainable COVID-19 treatments services in the region at large.

West Gondar Zone Vice Administrator and Health Office Head Kishen Wolde for her part said that the cross-border COVID-19 response will have significant roles towards promoting prevention and control of the pandemic.

The involvement of IGAD and other organizations contributes a lot in promoting public awareness and expedite the efforts of expanding COVID-19 screening services across the region.

Accordingly, following the Declaration by the Heads of State and Call for Action by the Ministers of health and Finance, EU responded by funding the IGAD health Regional Response Strategy with 60 million Euros to mitigate the health and socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 among cross border communities, migrants, refugees and host communities, Internally Displaces Persons, and other mobile populations in the IGAD region.

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