According to the latest data by the John Hopkins University and Africa Center for Disease Control on COVID-19 in Africa, there is no virus-free country in Africa as of May 13.
So far 72,336 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Africa with 2,475 deaths.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday said that it is in touch with Madagascar over its herbal drink Covid Organics (CVO) — believed to cure coronavirus or COVID-19 patients.
”We are in touch with the government of Madagascar,” Matshidiso Moeti, regional director of WHO office in Africa, told a media briefing.
The WHO response came after Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina had slammed the global health body for not endorsing the CVO.
“If it were a European country which had discovered this remedy, would there be so many doubts,” he said in an exclusive interview with France 24, Paris-based international television news network and Radio France International.
”The problem is that it comes from Africa. And they cannot accept that a country like Madagascar, which is one of the poorest countries in the world, has discovered this formula to save the world,” he added.
Last month, Rajoelina officially launched the CVO — an organic herbal concoction — claiming that it can prevent and cure patients suffering from the novel coronavirus.
Moeti said WHO’s representative has spoken with Madagascar’s Health Ministry and has held a meeting with the president.
”We have offered to support the design of a study to look into this product [COVID Organics]. We are in discussion to sort out the way forward,” she added.
She said so far the WHO does not have any data related to the efficiency of the CVO. She said the WHO director-general will also speak with Madagascar president.
“WHO has been working in the traditional medicine sector. We work very hard to facilitate collaboration and to incorporate traditional medicine into national health systems,” Moeti said.
The CVO has been developed by the Malagasy Institute of Applied Research. Madagascar has shipped the drug to several African countries.
Barely a week since President Magufuli of Tanzania said the country was interested in COVID-Organics, the Malagasy preventive/curative, potion for coronavirus, a consignment was delivered on Friday according to reports.
Tanzania is currently the East Africa Community’s second most impacted country behind Kenya. The country has 509 cases with 21 deaths and 183 recoveries as of May 9.
The Republic of Congo also announced on Saturday that a consignment will soon be imported. So far, Rajoelina has received praise from a number of his peers including presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Senegal – all of whom he has held teleconferences with.
During an African Union meeting late last month, he stressed the importance of the herbal cure – a variant of which prevents the virus, whiles another cures it. Speaking to colleague heads of state with a bottle of COVID-Organics on his table, he reiterated the viability of the herbal cure.
“There are two treatment protocols (curative and preventive). The state of health of Covid-19 patients who took Tambavy CVO CovidOrganics improved after 7 days and fully recovered after 10 days,” Rajoelina said in an April 30 tweet.
On Monday, the Indian Ocean countries also criticized the WHO for not endorsing its COVID-19 herbal cure.
Moeti further said that because of undernourishment, people in Africa have a weaker immune system, thus making them vulnerable to infectious diseases.
“This is an urgent issue, as more than 200 million people in Africa are undernourished. The COVID-19 pandemic is making the situation worse, “she said.
Yesterday, the Comorian president Azali Assoumani thanked the people of Madagascar and President Rajoelina for the donation of COVID-Organics, the purported virus preventative and curative mixture.
Also included in the Malagasy donation were doses of chloroquine and surgical masks, the president further disclosed. Azali said the gesture was a “perfect testimony to the solidarity which unites the peoples of the Indian Ocean, faced with the coronavirus pandemic.
