The European Union Commissioner for Crisis Management, the Federal Minister of Health, and acting WHO Representative, during the signing ceremony

Khartoum, 24 June 2020 — The World Health Organization welcomes a generous contribution of 11.5 million Euros from the European Union to fight COVID-19 in Sudan and improve the country’s overall health system. The large-scale 2-year project will benefit an estimated 42 million people in Sudan, including internally displaced people and refugees.

As part of the ongoing COVID-19 response, the project will cover health preparedness needs across the country, including coordinating the emergency response; ramping up surveillance and testing; isolating and managing COVID-19 patients; and raising awareness of the disease.

To identify cases, WHO will train and equip 400 professional and community members as rapid response teams, which will be available on a 24-hour basis to detect and respond to health events. Teams will learn procedures for specimen collection and transportation so that they can investigate cases and clusters. They will also be trained in contact tracing.

To diagnose cases, WHO will establish and upgrade 3 regional laboratories to respond to COVID-19 and other health hazards, providing laboratoty supplies and testing materials.

To treat patients, 10 isolation centres with ICU beds, oxygen, ventilators and other needed equipment will be established, and basic water services will also be set up in 12 hospitals.

Health care workers will receive training on preventing and controlling COVID-19 infection. The project will also ensure community engagement activities so that people are informed and educated on how to protect themselves and prevent the disease from spreading.

Entitled “Humanitarian Development Nexus: Strengthening preparedness and response of the health system addressing the COVID-19 Pandemic in Sudan,” the project is funded by the European Union Trust Fund and the Humanitarian Aid department of the European Commission, and will be implemented by the World Health Organization in support of Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health.