Your Excellency Dr Daniel Ngamjie,
Dr Olive Shisana,
Dr John Nkengasong,
Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
Good afternoon, and thank you so much for the opportunity to join you for this first Conference on Public Health in Africa.
My thanks and congratulations to the Africa CDC, the African Union and the organizing committee for your hard work in developing such a rich programme, and for bringing together leading scientists, innovators, policymakers, researchers and public health experts from across our continent and across the world.
I sincerely hope that your next conference will be able to be held in person.
This conference is extremely timely. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of nurturing strong science and research on our continent, and strong public health institutions.
I commend the AU for its bold leadership during the pandemic, through the continental COVID-19 strategy developed under the leadership of President Cyril Ramaphosa – the only unified regional strategy of its kind.
I also commend my brother John and your colleagues at the Africa CDC for your leadership throughout the pandemic. And let me assure you that WHO remains committed to supporting you to continue building institutional capacity on the continent.
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Last week marked one year since the first COVID-19 vaccines were administered.
A year ago, we all hoped that by now vaccines would be helping us all emerge from the long, dark tunnel of the pandemic.
Instead, as we enter the third year of the pandemic, the death toll has more than tripled, and the world remains in its grip.
COVID-19 has now killed more than 5 million people. And they’re just the reported deaths.
Although the number of reported deaths in Africa is lower than in most other regions, we know that they are underreported.
And the excess deaths caused by the virus, and by disruption to essential health services, are far higher.
Health systems continue to be overwhelmed. Millions have missed out on essential life-saving health services for noncommunicable diseases and mental health.
Progress against HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and many other diseases has stalled or gone backwards.
Millions of children have missed out on vaccinations for other life-threatening diseases, and months of education.
Millions of people have lost their jobs, or been plunged into poverty.
The global economy is still clawing its way out of recession.
Political divisions have deepened, nationally and globally.
Science has been undermined. Misinformation abounds.
And inequalities have widened.
The development of not one but several safe and effective vaccines in record time is a triumph of science.
But the inequitable distribution of vaccines has been a failure for humanity.
12 months since the first vaccines were administered, more than 8.5 billion doses have now been administered globally – the largest vaccination campaign in history.
But while 44% of the world’s population is fully vaccinated, in Africa this is still only 8%.
We’re pleased that COVAX and AVAT are now picking up speed as supply increases. In the past 10 weeks, COVAX has shipped more vaccines than in the first 9 months of the year combined.
But we are still a long way from reaching our targets to vaccinate 40% of the population of all countries by the end of this year, and 70% by the middle of next year.
48 AU Member States have still not reached the 40% target, mainly because they cannot access the vaccines they need.
Most countries are using vaccines as fast as they get them.
A small group of countries are facing challenges rolling out vaccines and scaling up rapidly, and WHO and our partners are working closely with those countries to overcome bottlenecks.
We have often said that as long as vaccine inequity persists, the more opportunity the virus has to spread and mutate in ways no one can prevent or predict.
And so, we have Omicron.
I thank South Africa and Botswana for rapidly detecting, sequencing and reporting this new variant.
It is deeply disappointing to me that instead of being thanked for detecting, sequencing and reporting this new variant, these countries have been penalized with ineffective and discriminatory travel bans.
I’m pleased that several countries have now lifted those bans.
But this situation demonstrates why the world needs a new, coordinated system for responding to pandemics: our current system disincentivizes countries from alerting others to threats that will inevitably land on their shores.
As you know, earlier this month WHO’s 194 Member States decided to negotiate a convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response.
We urge all African Member States to engage actively in the process of negotiating this accord.
The increased participation of Africa in multilateral discussions regionally and globally is essential for shaping global health security, and African health security.
The persistent inequity in access to vaccines, and the emergence of the Omicron variant, also shows why investing in local production must be a priority.
At the same time, there has been progress.
As you know, the AU and the Africa CDC have established the Partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing.
Several African countries – including Egypt, Morocco, Rwanda and Senegal – have all signed agreements or Memorandums of Understanding for COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing in their countries, and Algeria has begun production.
A month ago the Africa Medicines Agency treaty entered into force, paving the way to improve the quality, safety, efficacy, availability and affordability of medicines and vaccines across the continent.
WHO is committed to supporting the AMA with technical and financial support.
And WHO and partners have also established an mRNA technology transfer hub in South Africa to boost vaccine production on the continent.
Investing in local production in Africa is essential for strengthening regional health security, but also for our continent’s journey towards universal health coverage.
Because more than any other crisis, COVID-19 has reminded us that health is the most precious commodity on earth, and that resilient health systems are essential not only for protecting the health of individuals and communities, but for protecting jobs, economies and social cohesion.
Ultimately, this pandemic will end, but we will still be left with many of the same challenges we had before: poverty, climate change, racism, inequality and many of the other shared threats we face.
Let me leave you with three priorities:
First, I urge all African countries to engage actively in negotiating the new accord on pandemic preparedness and response.
Second, I urge all African countries to invest in science and its fruits: in research and development; in local production; and in regulatory capacity.
And third, I urge all African countries to invest in primary health care as the foundation of universal health coverage, and health security.
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates that when health is at risk, everything is at risk.
In the end, the pandemic teaches us that health is not a luxury, but a human right; not a cost, but an investment; not simply an outcome of development, but the foundation of social, economic and political stability and security.
WHO is proud to work with all of you, and will continue to work with all of you, for the healthier, safer, fairer Africa we all want.
Thank you so much.