Businessman and Philanthropist Strive Masiyiwa has revealed that his AU task force has managed to secure a drug called dexamethasone which is being used by hospitals in Europe and the US to treat COVID-19, The Sunday mail reports.
This was revealed by Masiyiwa himself as he was updating the AU Chairman South African president Cyril Ramaphosa, Masiyiwa said:
I am pleased to advise you that at our request, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed to joining our initiative to secure a drug to treat Covid-19 called dexamethasone, which is being used in hospitals in the US, and Europe on very sick patients following the results of the recovery trial.
The trial demonstrated significant reduction of mortality, saving lives that we couldn’t save without this intervention. About one million people will benefit from the drug [equivalent to nine million tablets]which will be distributed proportionately for free to all countries that are interested in its use.
Masiyiwa also expressed excitement about the work he was doing for the task force as he said the UNICEF catalogue was now listed and purchasable and vendors were registering every day. While updating Ramaphosa Masiyiwa said:
Mr President, l am pleased to report that the platform has proved popular with suppliers and is receiving applications from an average of 40 new vendors per day.
We are also zeroing in on ensuring that we expand access of our platform to hospitals and local authorities approved by governments of member states. We believe this will ensure critical supplies are available at the hospital level in a speedy and timely fashion.
Ramaphosa appointed Masiyiwa to coordinate private sector PPE continental procurement .
More: The Sunday Mail