UK to invest £20m in AU’s anti-COVID fund

The United Kingdom says it will invest up to £20m in the African Union’s new ‘Africa anti-COVID 19 fund’ to tackle coronavirus and save lives.

A statement from the Press and Public Affairs Officer, British Deputy High Commission, Lagos,  Ndidiamaka Eze, said the fund would tackle the pandemic by recruiting African health experts and deploying them where they are needed most, strengthening global tracking of the pandemic, combating potentially harmful misinformation, providing specialised coronavirus training for health workers and making information about the virus more accessible to the public.

Announcing the funding on Thursday, International Development Secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, said: “As the UK faces its biggest peacetime challenge in tackling coronavirus, it’s never been more important to work with our partners in Africa to fight disease.

READ: COVID-19: EU donates N21bn to Nigeria

“No one is safe until we are all safe and this new funding and support for African leadership will help protect us all – in the UK, Africa and around the world – from further spread of the virus.”

Speaking on the Contribution, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing said: “The truly global scale of the current crisis means that international cooperation and solidarity is more important than ever.

This £20m UK funding contribution to the African Union will provide important additional support to Nigeria and other countries across Africa and is a testament to the fact that the UK stands shoulder to shoulder with Nigeria in our collective challenge to defeat this terrible virus.”