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Emergency Trust Fund for Africa
News article27 April 2020

EUTF steps up support to health systems of partner countries in the Horn of Africa for COVID-19 preparedness

EUR 15 million will support COVID-19 preparedness in to Sudan and South Sudan.

In view of the current pandemic, the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF) in the Horn of Africa reacted quickly to approve a total of EUR 15 million to support COVID-19 preparedness in Sudan and South Sudan.

In Sudan, a EUR 10 million programme, implemented by the World Health Organization (WHO), will address critical shortcomings in health governance, epidemiological surveillance, and epidemic preparedness to respond to the current COVID-19 pandemic. This programme will follow the humanitarian-development-peace nexus approach piloted Sudan and continue to help strengthen the country’s health system. The European Union, through the EUTF, has played an active role in building up this sector, for example, by providing better access to health services to some of the most vulnerable populations in Darfur. Through the International Medical Corps, it has helped train 900 health staff, rehabilitated much-needed health facilities and provided more than 157,800 health services in this region.

In South Sudan, the EUTF is topping up the Health Pooled Fund III programme with an additional EUR 4 million to help train health care providers, provide basic equipment (such as thermometers and facemasks), and reinforce preventive measures, such as wash facilities and awareness raising. Additionally, the EUTF has provided EUR 1 million to the WHO to increase lab capacities in the country. The EU, through the EUTF, finances the Health Pooled Fund III in South Sudan, together with other donors. This programme has had a deep impact on the health sector of the country, for example, by substantially increasing vaccination coverage from 38% to 60% for measles and by doubling the number of child outpatient curative consultations to 2.6 million per year.

Since the start of its implementation, the EUTF in the Horn of Africa has provided better access to basic services, such as health, sanitation and nutrition services, to more than 4.4 million people, including some of the region’s most vulnerable populations.

Details

Publication date
27 April 2020
Region and Country
SudanSouth Sudan
Thematic
Strengthening resilience of communities
Partner
World Health Organization

Programmes in the region