Remarks by WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti
Good morning, good afternoon, bonjour and welcome to all the journalists and colleagues joining this press conference. The African Region is dealing with a dual risk and burden of Ebola and COVID-19 and today we will look at the rollout of vaccines to control both of these diseases in African countries.
I am very pleased to be joined by, and would like to warmly welcome for this conversation, Dr Franklin-Asiedu-Bekoe, who is the Director of Public Health for the Ghana Health Service. Yesterday, Ghana became the first country in Africa to receive COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX Facility. I am also very pleased to be joined by Dr Bachir Kanté, the Senior Adviser at the Ministry of Health in Guinea, bonjour et bienvenu Dr Bachir Kanté, to discuss the rapid roll out of vaccines in response to the Ebola outbreak.
There have now been over 3.8 million confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent, and over 102,000 lives have been tragically lost to this pandemic.
COVID-19 vaccines will save thousands of lives in Africa and help economies and livelihoods to recover faster.
AstraZeneca vaccines arrived in Ghana yesterday and are scheduled to arrive in Cote d’Ivoire tomorrow, followed by 24 other countries in the Region that have completed the pre-shipment requirements. These deliveries are expected in the coming week.
The vaccines are being delivered by the COVAX Facility, which is co-led by WHO, Gavi and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. This is a multilateral partnership that really aims at assuring equity and access to vaccines, leaving no-one behind. COVAX is aiming to deliver 2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses globally in 2021, including around 600 million to African countries, to cover the most at-risk 20% of African populations, including frontline health workers, older people, and adults with co-morbidities. And I am sure that you are aware that the African Union is also working very hard to mobilize and provide additional vaccines to countries.
With these shipments and vaccines procured through other sources, more than half the countries on the continent should have vaccination programmes underway in the coming weeks.
This is a much-awaited leap forward for African countries that have spent months preparing from the side lines while wealthier countries race ahead with vaccination.
While celebrating this feat of solidarity, there is still a tremendous need for more investment in vaccine equity, including sharing of surplus doses by wealthier countries.
It cannot be stressed enough: no country is safe until all countries are safe. To end the pandemic, all countries must move forward together.
Turning then to Ebola, where a highly effective vaccine has been critical in controlling previous outbreaks and is now being used in the response to outbreaks in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
A delivery of 11,000 Ebola vaccines arrived in Guinea on Monday and 24 hours later a vaccination team was in N’Zerekore starting the rollout. In fact, our Representative in Guinea sent me a photo of himself in the plane flying there and then pictures as well of the process as it was unfolding. So far, 225 high-risk contacts and frontline health workers have been vaccinated.
In the DRC, vaccinations began eight days after the resurgence of the virus in Butembo. WHO has led the support, and our team and partners are on the ground supporting vaccination efforts. Over 650 health workers and high-risk contacts have been vaccinated.
Meanwhile, the six West African nations bordering Guinea are scaling-up Ebola preparedness by urgently finalizing their national preparedness and coordination plans in line with the WHO readiness assessment tool and I am aware that, I think on the 2nd, there is going to be a Ministerial meeting of these countries to discuss how to work together.
Surveillance and screening are being stepped-up at border crossings and in high-risk communities. Rapid response teams are being deployed to border areas to support preparedness plans of health districts.
We’ve learned the hard lessons of history and we know with Ebola and other health emergencies – preparedness works, and communities need to be engaged and enabled because they play an important role in preparedness and especially in the response. It’s act now or pay later in lives lost and economies ruined.
So far, Guinea has reported nine cases of Ebola and five deaths and the Democratic Republic of the Congo has reported eight cases and four deaths.
I will end on another sombre note. The killing of Italy’s Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mr Luca Attanasio after a World Food Programme convoy was attacked by armed groups, reminds us of the persistent danger that response teams and humanitarian workers and health-care workers face in North Kivu.
I extend my deepest condolences to the family of Ambassador Attanasio and the families of the those who have died in Guinea and the DRC due to Ebola.
I thank you once again for joining us and I look forward very much to our conversation today.