Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has been honoured by the Africa Centres for Disease Control (CDC) which renamed a building in tribute to her.
The CDC said the Minister for Women, Youth and People with Disabilities and John Nkengasong played pivotal roles in establishing the Ethiopia-based agency, with both names now appearing on the building.
The CDC has gone on to gain global recognition for its quick and targeted response to diseases including Covid-19.
Dlamini Zuma on Wednesday described the recognition as a very humbling honour.
“I really didn’t expect it. Yes, I’m overwhelmed. It just means that we have to continue being champions for that centre because it plays a pivotal role in detecting and supporting countries when there are threats of diseases or emergencies,” Dlamini Zuma said.
She said the CDC is an important addition to the AU.
“Because as you know, not so long ago, we had a very bad issue of Ebola in three West African countries and that was before the CDC was in place.
“But we as the AU had to work hard to ensure that an estimated 1.4 million people were not going to die … we said that would not happen under our watch,” she told a national broadcaster.
“We mobilised countries to send health workers there, to send support there, and indeed, less than 100,000 people passed away in three countries.
“So it’s very important to have it and you saw the work that it did during Covid, also assisting other countries because the CDC is not just in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, but there are co-ordination centres in five different regions.
“For West Africa, you have Nigeria, for North Africa, you have Egypt, co-ordinating the countries in Central Africa. You have Gabon, in East Africa, in Kenya, and in South Africa and and Zambia.
Dlamini Zuma said it was important to have co-ordination in all these regions.
She said the CDC going forward will work with countries to improve their surveillance and laboratory facilities.
“They will also see how we can minimise the danger of endemic diseases.”