The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or Africa CDC, on Monday received a third donation of medical equipment and supplies from the Jack Ma and Alibaba Foundations.

The donation that included 4.6 million masks, 500,000 swabs and test kits, 300 ventilators, 200,000 sets of protective clothing, 200,000 face shields, 2,000 temperature guns, 100 body temperature scanners, and 500,000 pairs of gloves, will support the coronavirus response by African Union member states.

"The world cannot afford the unthinkable consequences of a COVID-19 pandemic in Africa. The crisis is proving to be more difficult and long-lasting than any of us had expected. We must make every effort to get prepared. As members of the global community, it would be irresponsible for us to sit on the fence, panic, ignore facts, or fail to act. We need to take action now," said Jack Ma, the founder of the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Group.

Dr John Nkengasong, director of the Africa CDC, said the donations from the two foundations have been an incredible initiative helping to feed the need for medical supplies by African countries.

"Getting diagnostics and medical equipment for the coronavirus response is a global challenge. Africa is in a fierce competition with the developed world with respect to the availability of commodities," Nkengasong said.

The Jack Ma Foundation is now taking its support to public health in Africa to the next level as it collaborates with the Africa CDC to hold a special webinar entitled Global MediXChange for Combating COVID-19 (GMCC): The Experience of China on the afternoon of April 28.

The webinar will feature remarks and presentations by Jack Ma; Dr John Nkengasong; Dr Wang Chen, president of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences; Dr Cao Bin, vice-president of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital; and Dr Raji Tajudeen, head of the Division of Public Health Institutes and Research at Africa CDC.

The webinar will enable medical experts from Africa, China and other parts of the world to share knowledge, experience and best practices for treating COVID-19. It is open to the public and interested individuals can join through the GMCC X Africa CDC Livestream Link.

The webinar was launched by the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation to facilitate open knowledge sharing and online communication to combat COVID-19.

Supported by technologies and tools from Alibaba Health and Alibaba Cloud, it features three main components: digital access to epidemic prevention resources, videos and webinars, and tools for online discussions.

Nearly 3,000 medical professionals have already joined the platform globally and thousands of medical staff from hospitals across Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa and Zimbabwe have participated in live exchange sessions organized by the webinar to better understand how to respond to this new pandemic.

The new collaboration is in line with the African Union Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing: Trace, Test & Track or CDC-T3, and supports implementation of the Africa joint continental strategy for coronavirus. It paves the way for more long-term, structured and strategic support to public health initiatives in Africa.

"Partnership is key to winning the war against COVID-19. In our strategy we have highlighted four things: cooperation, collaboration, coordination and communication," Dr Nkengasong said.

"If we do not want Africa to be the next epicenter, we must foster multisectoral partnerships at the community level, at the national level, at the continental level and at the global level. This important collaboration is a major milestone in achieving this."