Clarification on the APHRO-COV Project with INSERM
published on 06 April 2020
AFD is funding, along with INSERM, a system to improve health surveillance and care for suspected cases of Covid-19 in five African countries (Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Mali and Sénégal). This system – called “Aphro-Cov” – has no connection whatsoever with the controversy generated by a news segment broadcast on French television channel LCI, on Thursday, April 2, 2020.
The €1.5 million in AFD funding will in no way be used for any alleged study on the BCG vaccine – conducted in Africa or elsewhere.
Rather, the objective of the Aphro-Cov program is to improve the capacity of hospital services in these five African countries so that they are better able to take in patients and provide effective diagnoses to combat the epidemic.
The world is experiencing an unprecedented health crisis, in which only sufficiently robust health systems can organize an effective response to Covid-19.
For this reason, we must reinforce international cooperation in the health sector with the least well-equipped countries, especially in Africa, where the future of the pandemic may well play out.
