COVID-19: WHO to provide 120 million rapid tests to low and middle income countries

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on September 28 announced that 120 million rapid tests for the novel coronavirus will be made available to poorer countries at $5 each. The main objective is to help the lower and middle-income countries and bridge the testing gap with richer countries. However, this is not being initiated by WHO alone, it has allied with its partners like- the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) and the Global Fund, Unitaid.

WHO prepares to battle coronavirus 

The tests that the WHO will be providing gives out results in 15-30 minutes. This will further help in the expansion of testing, especially in countries that do not have access to extensive laboratory facilities or trained health workers. These tests have been developed by Abbott and SD Biosensor and are considered to be extremely portable and easy to use. Director-General of WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in a statement, “High-quality rapid tests show us where the virus is hiding, which is key to quickly tracing and isolating contacts and breaking the chains of transmission. The tests are a critical tool for governments as they look to reopen economies and ultimately save both lives and livelihoods”. 

Read: WHO, Partners Roll Out Faster COVID Tests For Poorer Nations

Starting from October, Unitaid and Africa CDC will come together to roll out these tests in at least 20 countries in Africa. This will also help in contributing into the efforts by the African Union’s Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing initiative which gained momentum in August, with the aim of mobilizing experts, community workers, supplies and other resources. This was done to curb the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Executive Director of the Global Fund, Peter Sands, said “This is the ACT-Accelerator in action. It is proof that by working together at a massive global scale, we can develop and deploy a vital new tool to help contain and fight the pandemic. This is not just a new test – it’s the money and the deployment plan to get it to where it’s needed, fast. This is the power of global collaboration”.

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Guidelines published by WHO on September 11, talk about the value of these portable tests where there is mass community transmission and also where the nucleic acid amplification-based diagnostic (NAAT) testing is unavailable. This method can also be used in places where the results are delayed. According to the reports by who.int, talking about this method of testing, Andrea F. Wainer, Executive Vice President of Abbott’s rapid and molecular diagnostics businesses, said, “Abbott is pleased to bring our Panbio COVID-19 rapid antigen test and Sympheos digital solution to people and health authorities in low- and middle-income countries through this innovative partnership. We have long been committed to making sure our life-changing technologies are affordable and accessible, and for decades have been supporting many of these countries with our rapid tests for malaria, HIV, hepatitis, and other deadly infectious diseases”. 

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(Image Credits: AP/RepresentativeImage)