The West African Health Organisation (WAHO) has said West African region is in need of $50m to strengthen the capacity of member states, especially weak countries that lacked capacity to diagnose or contain Coranavirus.
The Director-General of WAHO, Prof. Stanley Okolo, disclosed this to newsmen on Monday in Abuja, while speaking on the outcome from the Emergency meeting held in Bamako, Republic of Mali.
He said that only about six out of 15 countries in the region have capacity to diagnose and contain the virus.
According to Okolo, the money would be used to boost capacity of weak countries and purchase reagents, among others.
He listed countries with capacity to diagnose or contain Coranavirus to include: Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Cote d’ivoire, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Senegal with each country having at least one suspected case that tested negative.
Reacting to rumours that Covid-19 could not survive in tropical environments, the director-general said research was still ongoing to ascertain the truth of the claim.