Africa’s efforts at securing much needed support to tackle the rampaging Coronavirus pandemic received a boost with the donation of Chinese billionaire entrepreneur Jack Ma who through the Jack Ma Foundation, will donate to each one of the 54 African nations 20,000 testing kits, 100,000 masks, and 1,000 medical use protective suits and face shields “to help combat the potential surging for demand for medical supplies and equipment in Africa”, Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation said in a statement.
The donation came a day after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced a coronavirus support package for the whole of Africa. The supplies will be flown to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa from where PM Abiy has agreed to lead in managing the logistics and disbursement efforts. The donation under the aegis of the Jack Ma Foundation confirmed that millions of prevention and containment materials will be flown into Africa.
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In addition, we will immediately start working with medical institutions in Africa to provide online training material for COVID-19 clinical treatment,” the statement added. “Now it is as if we are all living in the same forest on fire. As members of the global community, it would be irresponsible for us to sit on the fence, panic, ignore facts or fail to act. We need to take action now!” the statement concluded.
Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had earlier this week announced that he had secured a continent wide support coronavirus support from Chinese businessman Jack Ma. Abiy said the package which was to benefit all African countries will comprise testing kits, masks and guideline books on treatment methods.
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“Great appreciation to Jack Ma for partnering with Ethiopia to distribute 10-20k corona testing kits per country; more than 100k masks for each African country, and guideline books developed recently on how to treat patients with the virus,” he wrote in one of three tweets.
It remains to be known the exact testing kit the PM is referring to given that currently only laboratory tests are being used. The Institut Pasteur de Dakar in Senegal has, however, hinted that it would soon roll out a rapid test kit. Jack Ma, the Ali Baba founder had recently donated a million face masks to the United States as part of measures to help deal with the spreading virus.
In November last year, Ma was in Addis Ababa where he met with Abiy. The two parties discussed the launch of the Electronic World Trade Platform in Ethiopia. The platform was to promote Ethiopia’s export products to the global market and open the door for small enterprises to become competitive. The visit followed a 2018 meeting between the Abiy and Ma at the Alibaba Headquarters in Hangzhou. In January 2019, they met at the World Economic Forum in Davos and discussed a potential partnership to build a tech city in Ethiopia.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry