Remarks by WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti
Greetings to all our colleagues in the media and everyone watching online. Our press conference today is of course on COVID-19, but also on polio and the WHO Regional Committee for Africa. So, this is an annual meeting of Ministers of Health who come to make policy, reach agreements on what they are going to do to improve health and most importantly, how they will work together as a region on the health of the population.
I am very pleased to be joined for this conversation by the Honourable Prof. Mijiyawa Moustafa, the Minister of Health and Public Hygiene and Universal Access to Health Care of Togo. Bonjour et bienvenue Monsieur le Ministre. And I welcome the Chairperson of the Seventy-first session of the Regional Committee for Africa. The Minister is also the chairperson of the Seventy-first session of the Regional Committee. So, he’s chairing this meeting of ministers that I mentioned.
I also welcome Dr Tunji Funsho, the Chair of Rotary’s National PolioPlus Committee in Nigeria. A warm welcome to you. Rotary is our wonderful partner on polio eradication. Dr Funsho will update on Nigeria’s efforts to end all forms of this virus once and for all.
As I said, this week Africa’s Health Ministers and other health leaders have come together virtually for the Seventy-first session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa. So, this forum which is a governance forum on WHO sets regional priorities and strategies to achieve better health for people in African countries.
Delegates have agreed on actions in response to immediate challenges, such as the fight against COVID-19 and the vaccine rollout.
They have also endorsed frameworks on other important health issues, such as cervical cancer (which is among the biggest killers of African women), and a framework for integrated action on Tuberculosis, HIV, sexually transmitted infections and hepatitis, which incorporates lessons from the decades-long HIV response. We will hear more about the Regional Committee’s deliberations from the Chairperson, Honourable Minister Mijiyawa.
One year ago, almost to the day, we celebrated a monumental milestone when the African Region was certified as free from wild poliovirus. That achievement was only possible because of decades of work by courageous women and men.
Our success in ending wild poliovirus in Africa shows what is possible when we work together with urgency and determination. COVID-19 has now threatened this triumph, as governments worked hard to limit its spread and paused some immunization campaigns. However, we cannot waver, and with renewed vigour we can overcome the final hurdles that jeopardize our success.
Since 2018, twenty-three African countries have experienced outbreaks of vaccine-derived polio. These outbreaks can happen when not enough children have been immunized and poor sanitation exists.
During yesterday’s special polio event as part of the Regional Committee, African governments fully recognized that we must not let any form of polio sneak through the cracks in the armour of immunization and take hold again. They committed to ending all forms of polio.
We have the know-how, but it must be backed by committed resources to reach all under-vaccinated communities and ensure that all children thrive in a world free of polio. Together, we can help the world achieve polio eradication.
Since July 2020, polio vaccination campaigns have stepped-up and almost 100 million African children have been reached.
Polio staff, systems and resources are on the ground, across the continent, protecting gains against this virus as well as helping to respond to COVID-19, to Ebola, cholera and other disease outbreaks.
As we keep making progress, it is vital that the polio infrastructure and resources are maintained to serve wider health interests. We are working closely with countries on this and I’m sure we will hear more from Dr Funsho.
Turning then to the COVID-19 situation in Africa: there have now been almost 7.6 million cases and 191,000 Africans have sadly died. The third wave appears to be stabilizing but cases are still very high, with almost 248,000 reported in the past week.
Twenty-four countries are in resurgence and deaths are rising in eight countries. This is a preventable tragedy if African countries can get fair access to the vaccines.
For months we have planned with national authorities, to accelerate the vaccine rollout as soon as supplies became available. I’m delighted that in the past week 13 million doses have been administered – triple that of the previous week.
Many of these doses are from donations and sharing arrangements through COVAX. I would like to appreciate the Governments that have shared doses with African countries.
We are still hopeful that 10% of people in Africa will be vaccinated by the end of September – a very daunting task. 117 million doses are due to arrive in the coming month and up to 34 million additional doses will be needed to reach that target.
So, I urge countries with supplies to keep sharing doses – with international solidarity we can protect those at highest risk of COVID-19 in all countries in the world.
I also encourage African Governments to ramp up the readiness to utilise these vaccines when they arrive, ensuring that human, material and financial resources are available to get vaccines into the arms of our populations. No precious dose should be wasted.
I look forward very much to our conversation and thank you once again for having joined us.