Accra, May 25, GNA – Dr Vladimir Antwi-Danso, the Dean of Academic Affairs, Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, has urged African leaders to have faith in African researchers to find a cure and effective treatment for Covid-19.
He said COVID-19 was a reality and that the Continent needed research that was science tailored to combat it.
Dr Antwi-Danso made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra on the occasion of the African Union (AU) Day celebration on the theme “Silencing The Guns: Creating Conducive Conditions for Africa’s Development”.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the COVID-19 pandemic had reached a milestone in Africa, with more than 100,000 confirmed cases.
The virus has now reached every country on the continent since the first case was confirmed in the Africa region on 14 February in Egypt.
Dr Antwi-Danso noted that COVID-19 was a reality and that there were all kinds of theories surrounding it, but where it comes from does not matter, and that how to mitigate its effect was what mattered.
He urged African leaders to stop worrying about the cause and where COVID-19 came from, and that they should stop the non-scientific way of looking at the disease.
In Africa, traditionally, some herbal medicine had been used to treat some viral diseases such as common cold, he noted adding that Coronavirus had being in existence since time immemorial, however, COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) was a new strand.
With regards to efforts by countries to develop COVID-19 vaccines, Dr Antwi-Danso forecasted that when the vaccine had been successfully developed, one would be asked to have COVID-19 vaccine card, before he would be issued with a visa to travel to other countries, just like the “Yellow Fever Vaccine card”.
Concerning the AU Day, Dr Antwi-Danso said there must be programmes on that Day or towards that Day, which would make people to understand the essence of Union.
He said such an occasion must imbibe in the people the spirit of loving that Day. “The AU must work towards African unity, we have no choice. Africa is the only continent that has no choice not to integrate. We need to integrate and unfortunately we are hiccupping very badly because of pockets of instability. We must kick instability away from our shores,” the Dean said.
He urged the AU to resist certain western values that were useless such as gayism and lesbianism, which were being forced on the Continent.
Africa Day (formerly African Freedom Day and African Liberation Day) is the annual commemoration of the foundation of the Organisation of African Unity on 25 May 1963.
It is celebrated in various countries on the African continent, as well as around the world.
The organisation was transformed into the AU on 9 July 2002 in Durban, South Africa, but the holiday continues to be celebrated on 25 May.
GNA