By Jacob Kubeka –
Executive Secretariat of the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Organization is organizing a joint supervision mission with the West African Health Organization (WAHO) in the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Countries from July 5-10, 2021.
A statement issued by iMPACT Communication in Lome said that this mission is on the cross-border COVID-19 project titled “Reducing the cross-border spread of COVID-19 in the ECOWAS Region.”
It added that the project has been under funding from GIZ since March 2021.
According to statement, the main goal of this project is to strengthen the surveillance and management of COVID-19 cases at the border level along the Abidjan-Lagos corridor.
Specifically, the project seeks to:
• Improve knowledge of border agents, transport companies and border communities on
COVID-19;
• Implement an electronic tracking system to help in tracing contact cases of COVID-19
infected people who have crossed the corridor borders.
Since the beginning of the project, key activities have been implemented; these include:
• Training of data entry operators;
• Review of standardized operational procedures;
• Training of border officers, community and religious leaders, mobilizers, on COVID-19; and
• Data collection of travelers.
This joint ALCO-WAHO supervision will cover both programmatic and financial issues and it is to
ensure that the activities implemented were carried out in accordance with the objectives of the
project.
The mission is also an opportunity to WAHO and ALCO experts to meet health and administrative
authorities to first of all thank them for their support and to have their opinion on the implementation
of the project and their expectations for the next steps.
The Abidjan-Lagos Corridor covers five countries in West Africa: Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria and activities are mainly conducted at the border and in border towns along the corridor.