Your Excellency Ramses Joseph Cleland,
Your Excellency Léopold Ismael Samba,
Honourable Ambassadors, dear colleagues, brothers and sisters,
I would like to begin by thanking the African Union for its continuous support for WHO, its leadership and its unified continental strategy since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
I am pleased to see that cases and deaths in Africa have now been declining for several weeks, although they are still at a high level and we must continue to be vigilant.
No country can afford to let down its guard.
Nine months since the first vaccines were administered, we’re painfully aware that many of your countries still do not have sufficient access to life-saving vaccines.
More than 5 billion doses of vaccine have been administered globally, but less than 2% of those have been in Africa.
Vaccine nationalism, vaccine diplomacy and severe supply constraints have created a global injustice.
We have been doing everything we can to fight this injustice, and to increase supply through COVAX and AVAT, which we are supporting. We see some positive signals, but it’s still nowhere near enough.
While 54 countries globally have been able to vaccinate at least 40% of their populations, only two of those countries are in Africa. Our aim is to support all of your countries to reach that level, 40%, by the end of this year.
The pandemic is a clear demonstration that we must build manufacturing capacity in Africa for vaccines and other medical products, and we are committed to supporting you to build that capacity, and we are already supporting some countries in Africa.
As you know, there have been several reports and reviews of the global response to the pandemic, with many recommendations for how to strengthen global preparedness and response.
Whatever structures and mechanisms emerge, we believe they must be grounded in five core principles:
They must be equitable, with the engagement and ownership of all countries;
They must be multisectoral, involving partners from across the One Health spectrum;
They must be coherent with the International Health Regulations;
They must be rooted in the constitutional mandate of WHO, rather than creating parallel structures;
And they must be accountable and transparent.
Reflecting these principles, we see four critical areas for action, each of which is relevant to our agenda today.
First, we need better global governance that is inclusive, coherent and accountable.
We believe a treaty or other international agreement on pandemic preparedness and response will provide a much-needed overarching framework for global cooperation, setting the rules of the game, and enhancing solidarity among nations.
We seek the support of all AU countries for this important initiative, as we prepare for the Special Session of the World Health Assembly at the end of November.
Second, we need more and better financing for national and global preparedness and response.
Crucially, any new financing facilities must be built using existing financial institutions, rather than creating new ones that further fragment the global health architecture.
Third, we need better systems and tools across the One Health spectrum to predict, prevent, prepare for and respond to epidemics and pandemics.
Already, WHO has taken steps to start building some of those tools, including the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin, which we opened last week, and which will be led by my talented brother Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu.
It’s also very important that Africa has its own strong institutions, including the Africa CDC and the African Medicines Agency.
WHO has supported and will continue to support both institutions technically and financially.
I thank the Africa Union for its support, and I commend my brother Michel Sidibé, the AU Envoy for the African Medicines Agency, for his work.
I call on all African countries who haven’t yet done so to ratify the AMA Treaty so it can enter into force. The pandemic illustrates why a unified continental regulatory framework is necessary.
And fourth, we need a strengthened, empowered and sustainably financed WHO at the centre of the global health architecture.
We remain committed to working with you to end the pandemic, and to support you on the road to universal health coverage, based on strong primary health care.
Thank you once again for your support. I assure you that WHO remains totally committed to supporting you, and to working for a healthier, safer, fairer Africa.
I thank you.