General News

The University of Dar Es Salaam has gone into the mass production of automatic handwashing machines following work done a final year Electrical Engineering Coet in 2019. The University is also reported to be in the final stages of obtaining approval for the mass production of hand sanitizers and masks while multi-disciplinary research on the efficacy of traditional medicine for treatment is also underway.

A team from different departments and faculties at the University of Ibadan have produced hand sanitisers to address shortages on the market as well as provide a low-cost option for the university community.

The University of Nairobi has been selected to play a leading role following the selection of Kenya, the WHO as a testing site for vaccine trials. A team of virus specialists from the University constitute a National Task Force. Also, to support public education on the pandemic, the University has initiated a public blog and Webinar Series on COVID-19 which highlight preventive measures and offer options to deal with various COVID-19 related social challenges.

The Makerere University is engaging on several fronts regarding the provision of medical equipment, test kits and personal protective equipment. For instance, the School of Public Health at the University of Makerere is collaborating with the Kiira Motors Corporation and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) under the Resilient Africa Network (RAN) Project to develop Open Design Low-Cost Ventilators to meet local demand. Already, engineering tests for the device, which will cost less than a third of the market price of imported ventilators, have been completed successfully and if animal-tests are successful, application to patients can commence. Uunder the same RAN project, large scale production of Epidemic Management Tent (EpiTent) has begun. The low-cost tents, which are accredited by the WHO and USAID, have a capacity of 50 patients and will be used to isolate COVID-19 patients.

A team from the Sterile Products Laboratory in the Faculty of Pharma in the Rhodes university was compelled to initiate the production of WHO-credited hand sanitizers to meet its own needs and that of hospitals and facilities within the province when its suppliers failed to deliver.

The University of Cape Town (UCT) is playing a key role in tracking infected persons of the coronavirus in South Africa. Various efforts have also been put into generating reliable data on infection rates and modelling. A dashboard on daily infections has been created while researchers from the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics is working on the epidemiological modelling of COVID-19 in Cape Town to assist in efforts aimed at combating the virus in the city. Again, owing to the critical role of accurate public information on the pandemic, the Global Surgery Division has developed an information dissemination platform targeted at communities without smartphones or internet access on their phones using Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) communication protocols.

As part of efforts to support information gathering on infections, the University of Lagos’ Centre for Information, Technology and Systems (CITS) has developed a website that provides live updates on COVID-19 cases by State in Nigeria.

Tracking and tracing infections remains crucial to efforts aimed at curbing the pandemic. At the University of Pretoria, a transdisciplinary team from the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics is engaged in a modelling study of the pandemic in South Africa. Also, a repository has been created in the Department of Data Science to provide real-time data on COVID-19 infections globally.

The university has been engaged in front-line work and support for front line workers in many ways. First, faculty of the university form part of the national COVID-19 task force working with the Ministry of Health to address the pandemic. They are involved in providing advice, supporting evidence generation and the provision as well as mounting of surveillance in health facilities and burial sites.

Scientists and researchers at the Wits University are involved in several activities related to the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, an interdisciplinary team of researchers made up of computer and data analysts, engineers and physicists, have developed an intuitive and interactive Dashboard to track and model the spread of the virus. Also, the University, in partnership with a private foundation (Gift of Givers) has opened a COVID-19 Testing Station on the Braamfontein Campus, which offers tests to referred potential patients for a small fee. The facility has a turnaround time of between 24-48 hours for results.