CORONAVIRUS

International: France is providing significant institutional funding to address the Covid-19 crisis and help strengthening capacities to fight Covid-19 pandemic in low-income countries

Since January, the Institut Pasteur, alongside members of the Institut Pasteur International Network (IPIN) and beyond with its privileged partners, have been actively mobilized in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Thanks to the support of the Agence française du Développement (AFD), the Ministry of Europe and foreign Affairs ( MEAE ) and the European Commission, the Institut Pasteur's historical donors, nearly 8 million euros have already been granted. This exceptional budget has enabled to provide emergency support to the network, targeting some institutes located in low-income countries.

Thanks to the Pasteurian solidarity illustrated by the sharing of expertise, the provision of primers for PCR screening of SRAS-CoV-2 and kits by the Institut Pasteur of Paris, and Hong Kong, to institutes in Africa, Madagascar, and South East Asia, IPIN has naturally positioned itself on the front line in the response to the Covid-19 epidemic. The member institutes of the Network were designated by their health authorities as reference laboratories for the diagnosis of Covid-19. In accordance with their missions, the institutes have thus been propelled to the heart of the fight against Covid-19 by providing a very large volume of diagnostic capacity. The granting of this mandate has unfortunately not always been accompanied by a sufficient operating budget to enable them to accomplish this mission.  At the same time, the medical analysis laboratories, vaccination centres and other service activities of the institutes have been greatly slowed down due to a lack of sufficient staff or user attendance.  Thus, the sustainability of these institutions, although they are major players in public health in their countries, is considerably weakened.

Here is an overview of the various initiatives put in place (as of June 22, 2020) and coordinated by the Department of International Affairs of the Institut Pasteur, in close collaboration with the support services mobilized (Management, Purchasing and Shipping), the Pasteur International Network Association PINA) and the beneficiary institutes.

Within the framework of the "Covid-19 - Health in common" initiative, AFD, Agence Française de Développement, has allocated additional funding of 2 million euros to the ECOMORE II project (ECOnomic Development, ECOsystem MOdifications, & Emerging Infectious Diseases Risk Evaluation), which aims to strengthen the surveillance, diagnosis and response mechanisms of countries from South-East Asia in the face of epidemics. This new funding will provide a direct support component to the emergency response to the Covid-19 epidemic in the 5 partner countries of the region (namely Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines and Vietnam).

In parallel, a second funding of 2 million euros was granted to support IPIN Institutes from 5 Sub-Saharan African countries on the front line in the fight against the epidemic (Senegal, Niger, Madagascar, Guinea and Central African Republic).

These two projects will enable partner institutes to ensure the effective fulfilment of their national and regional mandate as Covid-19 reference laboratories. The projects will support the Institutes for one year, in the following five areas:

  • equipment reinforcement,

  • purchase of diagnostic kits, consumables and reagents,

  • acquisition of personal protective equipment,

  • reinforcement of human resources,

  • training and skills transfer.


This emergency financial support strengthening capacity building of the partner institutes aims at delaying as much as possible the peak of the epidemic in Africa, as recommended by WHO, and to counter the resurgence of the contagion in South-East Asia. The two projects supported by AFD will support the control policies and strategies implemented by partner countries to stem the spread of the virus.

In addition to multi-country financing, AFD also provides bilateral support to some of the Network's institutes in Africa, notably the Centre Pasteur in Cameroon and the Institut Pasteur de Côte d'Ivoire via the Debt Reduction-Development Contract (C2D) and the Institut Pasteur in Bangui and Madagascar via specific grants. Bilateral support will, amongst others, help strengthening the infrastructure of the partner institutes.

Similarly, the Ministry of Europe and foreign Affairs supported the Institut Pasteur (2 million euros) to help African countries cope with the pandemic. This emergency support contributes to an increase in the diagnostic capacity of each institute. It involves financing a programme to mobilise the expertise of the International Network of Pasteur Institutes (IPIN) to advise the health authorities of African countries on the most relevant and appropriate SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic strategies during the different periods of the epidemic. The ten Pasteur Institutes established in the Maghreb and in West, Central and Southern Africa will participate in the analysis of the performance of newly developed tests to guide the choice of reagents with the best quality/price ratio and the required robustness. They will participate in field interventions as close as possible to the populations, to assist health structures in the management of patients.

This funding granted by the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs will also support research projects conducted by African scientists in collaboration with their colleagues at RIIP, to identify the specificities of the policy to combat SARS-CoV-2 in the African context. The mathematical models developed at the beginning and during the course of the epidemic will be compared with the results of sero-epidemiological population surveys and molecular studies. They will provide a better understanding of the dynamics of the spread of the epidemic and its correlation with the clinical presentation of the disease and the genetic evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 viral agent as it spreads. A qualitative study in the Human and Social Sciences will help to understand the population's responses to the preventive recommendations of health authorities.

This emergency financing granted by AFD and the MEAE accounts for more than 40% of France's aid in response to Covid-19 in developing countries.

In parallel, the European Commission's Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO) is currently supporting a project for capacity building and networking of public institutions and experts using the "One Health" concept. Aiming at better preparing the 22 beneficiary countries around the Mediterranean, Black Sea and Sahel Regions for the response to emergencies and epidemics, the MediLabSecure project was able to benefit from additional funding of nearly 2 million euros to support specific actions against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Thanks to DG DEVCO’s support, MediLabSecure has been directly involved since January 2020 in the preparedness to the Covid-19 pandemic within the member countries of the MediLabSecure newtork as well as IPIN in Africa by implementing the following actions:

  • implementation of SARS-CoV-2 detection and diagnostic capabilities in countries as mentioned above and support in expertise (including sequencing activities);

  • support the diagnostic routine of the Institut Pasteur of Cambodge and the Institut Pasteur in Dakar, as well as the deployment of the latter’s mobile emergency equipment, both having been designated as WHO Global Referral Laboratory for Covid-19;

  • Sharing a training course on management of suspected and confirmed cases and on prevention and monitoring strategies in both clinical and community settings, in order to strengthen the surveillance and protection capacities of healthcare workers. According to WHO recommendation to establish a cohort study on healthcare workers as personnel on the frontline in the management of the epidemic, part of DG DEVCO funding allowed the launch of this cohort study in 3 IPIN member countries (Madagascar, Niger and Central African Republic) plus Burkina Faso. These surveillance studies will also be useful in assessing the effectiveness of prevention and control measures delivered by the above-mentioned training.


Find out more:

Icône PDFPress release Covid-19 project AFD Ecomore II
Icône PDF Project sheet Covid-19 AFD Covid-19 Ecomore II
Icône PDFProject sheet Covid-19 AFD Africa

Article « MediLabSecure on the frontline to face the Covid-19 pandemic”

Article “MediLabSecure off-line training on preparedness and response to the health emergency from coronavirus SARS Cov-2

 

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