The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), have made their decisions to support Institut Pasteur de Dakar (IPD) based in Senegal with medical equipment and biomedical research in the fight against COVID-19 across a network of laboratories in several Sub-Saharan African countries.
The intervention was facilitated through the IsDB Reverse Linkage Mechanism and under the Arab Africa Trade Bridges Program as part of the IsDB Group COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Program (3Rs).
This intervention will ensure IPD’s laboratories network across ten other African OIC member countries receive medical equipment and collaborate in their responses to COVID-19 through the sharing of knowledge and expertise.
The ten countries are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Togo.
While commenting on the ITFC’s partnership with the IPD, on Monday August 31, 2020, Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, CEO of ITFC, said the mandate of the AATB Program was to support regional integration between African and Arab countries and to enhance SMEs export development in important sectors of the economies of these countries.
“During this pandemic, AATB is working to enhance the resilience of the health and agri-food sectors and its value chains in African member countries and create synergies between them in humanity’s fight against COVID-19,” he said.
He further stated that “The partnership with IPD follows the recent launch of an E-learning platform by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and ITFC in coordination with the Moroccan Society of Anaesthesia, Analgesia, and Resuscitation (SMAAR), which aims to facilitate medical-related knowledge sharing between African member countries.”
The Institut Pasteur de Dakar is a biomedical research center in Senegal and its influence extends to West Africa and beyond.
In keeping with its mission to protect and promote public health, the IPD excels in a variety of health-related sectors, including research and immunization, training and capacity building, and strategic direction.
