‘AFRICA IS ONLY REGION TO HAVE UNIFIED STRATEGY ON COVID-19’

Sun 09 May 2021:

Africa is the only region to have developed a unified continental strategy for the coronavirus pandemic that has delivered results, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Saturday.

So far, Africa has administered 19.6 million doses, or 2% of the global total. Meanwhile, 80% of all doses administered globally have been in high and upper middle-income countries.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the remarks at a high-level emergency virtual meeting of African health ministers on the situation in Africa.

Africa is the only region to have developed a unified continental strategy on COVID-19. And that strategy has delivered results. And I would like to thank his Excellency President Ramaphosa and Excellency Moussa Faki Mahamat for their leadership and to all Ministers who participated in the first meeting and pushed on since then, and also to Excellency President Tshisekedi.

He said although Africa has suffered, “we have not yet seen the same scale of devastation in Africa as we have in some other regions.”

“We have seen an encouraging decline in cases and deaths since the peak in mid-January; however, several countries in the continent continue to report sustained transmission and increases in some areas,” he said.

Tedros warned that what is happening in many other parts of the world can happen on the African continent “if we let down our guard.”

“Although our continent has seen fewer cases and deaths than other regions, Africa has suffered from major disruptions to health systems and health services,” he said.

Africa has administered 19.6 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, or 2% of the global total, 80% of all doses administered globally have been in high and upper middle-income countries, according to Tedros.

“We’re pleased that with the support of COVAX, 47 countries on the African continent have started vaccinating, but we know the volumes of vaccines are nowhere near enough,” he said.

“What is happening now in many other parts of the world can happen in our Africa if we let down our guard. In many countries, the emergence of rapidly spreading variants, combined with premature easing of public health and social measures, and the inequitable distribution of vaccines, is having tragic consequences as we all know,” he said.

There are more than 4.6 million confirmed cases in Africa – with more than 4.1 million recoveries and 123,000 deaths, according to WHO figures.

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