Africa took delivery of Jack Ma’s COVID-19 donations consignment on Sunday, March 22.

These are contributions are parts of efforts by Alibaba founder’s to help in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.

 The total items dispatched involved; 5.4 million face masks, 1.08 million detection test kits, 40,000 sets of protective clothing, and 60,000 sets of protective face shields.

In the face of this kind gesture by the Asian business magnate, the CSS has however projected that these will not be enough for the country.

According to the Centre for Socioeconomic Studies (CSS), “Ghana's own procurement of COVID-19 response kits must be ready by now especially protective clothing and PPEs since Jack Ma's philanthropic gesture will likely not exceed two weeks supply”.

The CSS estimates that each African country will receive the following quantities of the items if distributions are equitably done.

1. Face mask - 5.4 million - 100,000 per country - Deploying this among 10,000 frontline health workers on the average, it will be depleted in 10 days.

2. Test kits - 1.08 million - 20,000 per country - In case of 2000 tests per week - this will last for 10 weeks.

 3. Protective face shields - 60,000 - 1,111 per country - Should this be distributed among 100 health facilities across the country, an average of 11 health workers per facility will be protected per a day’s shift. Depleting it in a day.

The centre has questioned Ghana's own specific efforts at COVID-19 preparedness in terms of numbers per Personal Protection Equipment (PPE)?

They have demanded that the Ghanaian public, in particular, frontline workers are made aware of “this simple and basic information”.

The Centre for Socioeconomic Studies (CSS) is an independent research and policy think tank committed to producing policy-oriented knowledge for both state and non-state institutions across the world.