WHO in the African Region hosted the first in a series of virtual sessions for innovators across the region to showcase home-grown creative solutions to addressing critical gaps in the response to COVID-19.
Eight innovators from Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria, Guinea and Kenya presented their solutions, all of which have already been implemented in their respective countries, with significant potential to be scaled up further across the region. About 350 innovators and other interested parties also joined the session.
WHO has routinely called for a multifaceted and multisectoral approach to combatting and containing the COVID-19 pandemic in the region, recognizing that providing ongoing support and a regular platform to African innovators can support this.
The virtual sessions also aim to build on WHO’s inaugural “Hackathon”, hosted in April, in which small groups of participants developed scalable concepts around one of the eight pillars of WHO’s current COVID-19 response strategy, the three highest ranking groups awarded seed funding to begin implementing their innovations. WHO will look to provide further operational support to some of the best innovations.
WHO aims to continue integrating African innovators into the regional response strategy.
Read the full WHO/AFRO story about WHO supporting African innovations in COVID-19 response
Read more about WHO’s response to COVID-19