The South African COVID-19 response will be bolstered by a surge team of health experts from the World Health Organization (WHO).WHO has deployed more than 40 experts from various fields to support the COVID-19 outbreak response management.
These deployments have emanated from continued discussions between the Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, and WHO global and regional leadership. With South Africa now among the top five of the world’s most affected countries, it is critical to strengthen its COVID-19 response.
WHO will be primarily responsible for funding the international surge team with South Africa largely being responsible for providing administrative resources for smooth initiation and integration of the partnership.
The surge team is expected to contribute to national efforts in key response areas including surveillance and streamlining of epidemiological systems and WHO global COVID-19 response guidelines, improved case management, leading to a reduced hospital burden and increased community buy-in resulting in greater compliance to public health measures.
