By 
The CombatCovid19 Africa (CCA) platform, officially launched about six months ago to checkmate the coronavirus pandemic on the continent, has recorded tremendous success, according to its promoters in a statement issued this week.
“It has been six months since we officially started Combat COVID-19 Africa. Since our launch we have amassed over 5300 users and user organizations on our platform in over 208 cities globally. We started this platform with the simple mission of being the digital workspace for building socio-economic digital solutions aimed at alleviating the impact of COVID-19 on our beautiful continent.
“Our goal was to enhance African collaborations and provide meaningful data for understanding common challenges that we all face. Six months into launch we believe we have made considerable strides in achieving our vision. We have been given the opportunity to present to a number of important stakeholders working tirelessly to control the spread on the continent, these include the African Union, African Telecommunications Union, NEPAD, African Risk Capacity, African CDC, WHO and UNESCO,”
The CombatCovid-19 Africa is a non-profit, non-advertising, non-commercial platform, and a creative commons framework.
Since its launch, it has recorded a steady users-base to underscore its acceptance and growing importance in the continent’s battle against the COVID-19 pandemic,
Top 10 cities by users:
- Dar es Salaam
- Lagos
- Nairobi
- Johannesburg
- Abuja
- Accra
- Cape Town
- Pretoria
- Lusaka
- Kigali
“The CombatCovid19 Africa (CCA) startup was born through an open participatory process and was later described by the ATU Secretary General Mr. John OMO as a “platform of platforms,” said Eric Osiakwan, of Chanzo Capital, one of the promoters of the platform.
He added: “The combined efforts of various entrepreneurs, engineers and investors from different African countries in the spirit of Ubuntu to combat COVID19 in Africa is the reason for the platform that has transcended the continent over the last six months.”
Osiakwan’s view is similarly expressed by other promoters. “Through the help of the different stakeholders, we hope to create an African platform that will unlock the creativity, innovation, and knowledge sharing of individuals and groups across the African continent,” -said Nico Muka of Cortex Hub.
“Africa has often been mentioned last or not mentioned at all when one speaks of continents where digital innovation is growing. I learnt from my participation in Combat COVID-19 Africa that we (Africa) have the skills and capabilities to build powerful digital solutions for challenges faced by our communities. Thank you to Dr Andile Ngcaba for his leadership,” said Aya Dlova, AfrikanCreate.
“Combat COVID-19 platform thé best African digital collaborative response to drive a vision of a digital continent where every African Can innovate and exchange ideas,” said Koffi Fabrice Djossou.
Battling cyber threats
While thanking volunteers for helping to drive the objectives of the platform, the promoters also stressed the increasing level of cyberthreats to Africa’s growing online culture.
“We would like to thank all of our digital volunteers for their hard work and effort during this stressful period. These digital volunteers agreed to help build and maintain this platform for free to help our continent. Your hard work does not go unnoticed. We will continue to work on growing our user base in order to serve the needs of the entire continent.
“Cyber and Deep fake have increased during this period, thanks to our volunteers who have spent time closely analyzing these cyber threats. Our creative commons model has also been instrumental in making our platform appealing. Our Volunteer as a Service (VaaS) model offers user organizations and stakeholders across the continent. This coupled with our country chapters, circles and digital ambassadors have made Combat COVID-19 Africa what it is today.”
Innovating for COVID-19 virtual symposium
“We also successfully hosted our inaugural innovating for COVID-19 virtual symposium in 3 languages(English, French & Portuguese). Videos of the sessions can be found on our YouTube page. Our symposium had over 25 speakers covering a range of topics, such as:
- Global Health Technology Ecosystem & Atlas
- AI as a Service, computer vision
- Investing in Africa’s digital future
- Africa reinventing itself in the 21st century
- Genomics Technology and COVID-19
- Accelerating Africa towards Quantum computing in the post COVID-19 world
- Exploring a COVID-19 health data science collaboration framework
- High Altitude Platform Solution for Africa’s 30 million square kilometer
