Giving Compass' Take:

• Lerato Mogoatlhe reports that WHO has warned to African governments that a lack of testing for COVID-19 leaves large gaps in knowledge of the spread of the epidemic. 

• What role can philanthropy play in increasing access to testing in vulnerable countries? Are you ready to support the creation and distribution of tests? 

• Read about why we need USAID for global COVID-19 prevention. 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a warning on Monday to African governments, saying COVID-19 will turn into a “silent epidemic” unless testing is prioritised, and delivered on a much greater scale than it is at the moment.

The organisation’s regional office for Africa hosted a press conference with the director-general of the WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus; the regional director for Africa, Dr. Matshediso Moeti; as well as Dr. Samba Sow, a special envoy at the WHO and director-general of the Center for Vaccine Development in Mali.

There are currently more than 100,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Africa, according to the World Health Organisation.

“My first point for Africa, my first concern, is that a lack of testing is leading to a silent epidemic in Africa. So we must continue to push leaders to prioritise testing,” Sow said.

Read the full article about lack of COVID-19 testing in Africa by Lerato Mogoatlhe at Global Citizen.