News & Analysis: Regional coordination
“Although distorted by low sampling numbers and blind spots, the findings highlight that Africa must not be left behind in the global pandemic response, otherwise it could become a source for new variants.”
“Despite being created to manage travel during the COVID-19 pandemic, the African Union’s COVID-19 passport can set in place a mechanism for controlling future pandemics and disease outbreaks in the continent.”
“While Covax is a necessary and laudable effort, its ambitions and timelines were always going to fall short of what the developing world needed, including much of Africa. So while leaders around the world were glued to their phones, Zimbabwean businessman and philanthropist Strive Masiyiwa was on video calls setting up something a little different. He and about 30 African colleagues established the non-profit Africa Medical Supplies Platform.”
“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 said Saturday.”
“The Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) says armed conflict and the coronavirus pandemic have seriously damaged the economies of the six member-countries and put a halt to regional integration. The economic block, one of the least developed on the African continent, marked its 27th anniversary this week in Cameroon.”
“African leaders must end the over-dependence on foreign aid and be self-sufficient in vaccinating Africans. In the face of vaccine nationalism by richer western nations, this is the right thing to do to prepare for the next pandemic.”
Yawa Hansen-Quao, Executive Director of Emerging Public Leaders, discusses the importance of strengthening Africa’s public service and of increasing intra-African collaboration for a stronger post-pandemic recovery.
“The African Export-Import Bank will facilitate payments by providing advance procurement commitment guarantees of up to US$2 billion to the manufacturers on behalf of the Member States.”
“The African Union has secured an additional 400 million doses of coronavirus vaccines for its members… This comes on top of an earlier announcement by the AU that it had secured 270 million vaccine doses.”
“During a press conference Thursday, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director John Nkengasong outlined a strategy that will enable all African nations to roll out vaccines that require ultracold temperature storage.”
A hub for information, analysis, and the global response to COVID-19’s impact on Africa