The Mastercard Foundation will donate $1.3 billion over the next three years to help fight the covid-19 pandemic and accelerate economic recovery on the African continent, it announced Tuesday.
“In partnership with the African Union, the African Union Centre for Disease Control, the Mastercard Foundation is proud to announce the delivery of $1.3 billion over the next three years to save the lives and incomes of millions of people and accelerate economic recovery on the continent,” said the Foundation’s President, Reeta Roy.
At the presentation of the partnership, in digital format, Roy said that the partnership has four priorities: “Acquire vaccines for at least 50 million people, support delivery and distribution to many millions more people on the continent, prepare the workforce for vaccine production in Africa and strengthen the Africa CDC to implement this historic initiative together with African countries,” she said.
In the speech, Rita Roy said that this initiative should “unlock the economic potential of the health sector and create jobs and opportunities for thousands of people,” and argued that “systemic investments are needed to increase the security and resilience of the sector.
On Monday, Africa recorded 406 more covid-19-associated deaths in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths since the start of the pandemic to 132 425, and 22 386 new infections, according to the latest official data.
According to the African Union Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the total number of cases on the continent is 4 925 978 and that of recovered cases is 4 445 872, up 14 932 in the last 24 hours.
Southern Africa remains the most affected region, with 2 124 267 cases and 65 456 deaths associated with covid-19. In this region is the country most affected by the pandemic on the continent, South Africa, which accounts for 1 696 564 cases and 56 974 deaths.
