The G5 Sahel will benefit from $20 million approved by the African Development Bank AfDB on June 9 to improve its response against the Covid-19. The financing will be injected into a pro-poor project managed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

According to AfDB, this financial support will help improve the resilience of vulnerable communities in the region, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and their host communities.

Specifically, the project aims to support epidemiological surveillance and case management capacity; provide medical products for the prevention, control, and treatment of Covid-19; and ensure the deployment of social protection measures in targeted communities, particularly internally displaced persons.

The AfDB also announced, through its Transitional Support Facility mechanism, an additional grant of $1.372 million to strengthen the actions and coordination of the G5 Sahel Permanent Secretariat and to support training on biosafety and biomedical waste management in the countries concerned.

According to the Director of the Transition States Coordination Office. (RDTS), Yero Baldeh, this operation will complement the humanitarian and development actions of the vast partnership of the Sahel Alliance Initiative and will support the most vulnerable.

The project is part of the Bank's $10 billion Covid-19 response mechanism. It aims at helping African countries cushion the economic and health impacts of the crisis.

André Chadrak