BANJUL, 1 September 2021: The Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad, Dr. Mamadou Tangara, on Monday 29 August 2021 held audience with the Director General of West African Health Organisation (WAHO), Professor Stanley OKOLO.
The Honourable Minister welcomed Professor Okolo and thanked him and his team at WAHO for the swift response and support given to The Gambia when Covid -19 pandemic initially broke out.
In his brief, the Director General of West African Health Organisation, Professor Stanley OKOLO, said he is in Banjul to discuss with officials ways of assisting The Gambia in the area of COVID-19 and also work towards envisaging the reopening of borders within the region.
Professor Stanley indicated that support earmarked for the health sector was discussed during the state visit of German President, His Excellency Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to The Gambia. He said The Gambia would decide the aspect of support needed in the country’s health sector.
WAHO Director recalled that his organisation previously supported The Gambia in critical health materials and those funds which were solicited from the African Development Bank. The support, Professor OKOLO said, was made possible as a result of a special case WAHO made for The Gambia, Mali and Guinea Bissau.
It could be recalled that WAHO was established by ECOWAS Protocol A/P2/7/87 on 9 July 1987, signed in Abuja by the Heads of State and Governments with the ultimate objective of contributing to the attainment of the ideal of the creation of an Economic Union of West Africa, in accordance with Article 3 of the Revised ECOWAS Treaty.