Coronavirus

TikTok, Bill Gates pledge $20 million to help Africa tackle COVID-19

cde.news desk 29 April 2020, 14:15 · 1 min read

A youth volunteer tests the temperature of a man, Monrovia, Liberia. The Liberian government has ordered compulsory wearing of face masks in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19 Pandemic in the country. Liberia health authorities announced that the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, has been tested positive for COVID-19. On 10 April, the government of Liberia has announced a state of emergency for 21 days and a nationwide quarantine, as measures the widespread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus which causes the Covid-19 disease. EPA-EFE/AHMED JALLANZO

The social media platform TikTok and the philanthropic Gates Foundation donated $10 million each on Wednesday to the vaccine alliance GAVI to help fund efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa.

GAVI said the funds would be used to distribute and deploy any new vaccines against COVID-19 once they are developed, trialled and licensed.

It would also help prevent “a potentially catastrophic impact on immunisation programmes across the developing world,” GAVI Chief Executive Seth Berkley said in a statement.

GAVI is a public-private partnership backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization, the World Bank, UNICEF and others, which arranges bulk buys to reduce vaccine costs for poor countries.

GAVI said this month it planned to disburse $29 million to support health systems in 13 lower-income countries to fight COVID-19.

TikTok, Bill Gates pledge $20 million to help Africa tackle COVID-19

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