IGAD Ministers of Health Call for Action to Combating COVID-19

The Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Workneh Gebeyehu, organised a video teleconference for the Ministers of Health of the Member States meant to follow up on the recommendations by the IGAD Heads of State and Government Summit on COVID-19 held on March 30, and decide on actions to be taken in a collective and collaborative manner so as to contain the spread of the virus and mitigate the impact of the outbreak in the region.
It is in this respect that the Deputy Minister of Health of Sudan Sarah Abdelazem Hassana, chaired the video teleconference meeting which brought together Mohamed Warsama Dirieh-Minister of Health of Djibouti, the Minister of Health of Kenya Mutahi Kagwe, the Minister of Health of Somalia Fowsiya Nur, the Minister of Health of South Sudan Elizabeth Acuei Yor, and the State Minister of Health for Primary Care of Uganda Joyce Moriku.
On the basis of the guiding principle that ‘no country is safe until every country is safe’, the Ministers discussed ways and means to operationalise the outcomes of the IGAD Summit of March 30, including the development of an IGAD Regional Response Strategy for COVID-19, the establishment of an Emergency Fund for COVID-19 and other disease outbreaks; and the strengthening the national response systems.
The Deputy Minister of Health of Sudan appreciated ‘the swift action taken by all the IGAD Heads of State and Government to contain and combat the spread of the Corona Virus’. On behalf of the Minister of Health of Sudan and Chair of the IGAD Health Ministerial Committee,