News & Analysis: Senegal
“Senegal needs greater capacity for pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing now and for the future. In the interim, it needs access to efficacious vaccines for its citizens. If this pandemic has taught us nothing else, it is that public health is global health. What happens in China, Senegal, or the United States can directly impact someone across the world.”
“‘Patients, particularly young ones, are arriving in respiratory distress,’ Dr. Khardiata Diallo, head of infectious disease at Fann hospital in Dakar, said, her voice cracking with exhaustion. ‘We’ve never had this number of cases, deaths and severe cases. Frankly, this third wave threatens to drown us.'”
“WHO regional director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti said that hospital admissions for severely ill COVID-19 patients had reached unprecedented levels in about 10 countries; at least six countries were facing shortages in intensive care unit beds and medical oxygen.”
“Although the dropout rate has remained stable, repetition rates have increased significantly in Senegal. The high repetition rate is concerning, first because it translates to a lack of learning, and second because it will increase the age range of students in the next cohort.”
“President Macky Sall of Senegal, said yesterday that he welcome the support of Team Europe and other partners, including the United States and the World Bank Group, for their support in constructing a manufacturing plant in Senegal to produce vaccines against COVID-19 and other endemic diseases.”
“Senegal could begin producing COVID-19 vaccines next year under an agreement with Belgian biotech group Univercells aimed at boosting Africa’s drug-manufacturing ambitions, a source involved in funding the project said.”
“African Union officials hope that at least three countries — South Africa, Senegal and Rwanda — will develop the capacity to produce vaccines for the continent, including the mRNA-type vaccines that emerged as an innovative technology against COVID-19.”
“African health officials aim to vaccinate at least 30 percent of the 1.2 billion population by the end of the year, rising to 60 percent or higher after that. But supply constraints, logistical problems and vaccine hesitancy mean immunisation campaigns have been patchy.”
“Even though the IATA warns that the sector will probably not return to normal until 2024, the company’s management refuses to give up. And, while waiting for possible aid from public authorities and financial development institutions, Asky has sought help from its shareholders.”
“While people around the world wait impatiently to be vaccinated against COVID-19, an inoculation site in Senegal was empty on a recent day - a sign of the ambivalence nationwide.”
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