ALL UNITED AGAINST COVID-19, TOGETHER WE FIGHT

Praesens advocates for a quantum change in the world’s approach, preparedness and response to pandemics, some posing existential threats to society.

We believe proper preparation should include an international re-evaluation of the role of basic healthcare around the world. The growing threat of future ‘unseen enemies' requires the adoption of a fundamentally new mindset, one with a longer time horizon, new technological tools, diagnostics and therapies all designed to prevent, respond and manage these extraordinary challenges. As an organisation devoted to epidemic preparedness, we at the Praesens Foundation are committed to support the EU Coronavirus Global Response.

You can watch the video testimonial from our Founder & President, Dr. Rudi Pauwels, who reminds us all of the importance to invest in early detection and response capacities.

Our Senegalese partner, the Institut Pasteur de Dakar, designated by the African Union as one of the two reference laboratories on the continent for the detection of SARS-Cov-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, has been fighting on the frontlines even before the virus reached the country. The epidemic continues to spread to Senegal, one of the most affected countries in Africa, with 1,115 confirmed cases. By providing their epidemiological expertise, clinical research and data analysis, the Institut Pasteur de Dakar is supporting the Ministry of Health in its crisis-response. Since mid-March, the Praesens Mobile Lab is deployed in Touba, the second most populated city after Dakar, to ramp up diagnostic capacities in the city and has to date tested over 2,400 patients for 9 regions (Diourbel, Louga, Fatick, Kaolack, Kaffrine, Matam, Tambacounda, Kédougou et Sédhiou). In total, over 16,300 suspected cases have been tested nationally. Test results are delivered the same day with immediate patient follow-up. 

A report of the results which is facilitated by a digital platform allows the physicians of districts and regions to have direct access to information concerning the suspect cases, contacts and hospitalized patients who are sampled in their area. For more information, watch the video report (in French) from RTS, the national Senegalese broadcast.

Read the article written by Dr. Rudi Pauwels in collaboration with the INSEAD Humanitarian Research Group published in the Singapore Business Times today, on how more focus should be paid to the role of diagnostics in monitoring so communities can be proactive.

We wish you all strength and courage in these unprecedented times.

And special kudos to all the healthcare workers fighting on the frontlines! 

The Praesens Team