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VACCINE MANUFACTURING IN AFRICA, NEW PUBLIC HEALTH ORDER

19/12/2021 16:51:00 Mfanukhona Nkambule

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MBABANE – There is a strong call for a new public health order for Africa to lessen effects of future pandemics on the lives and livelihoods of Africans.

In order to enhance pandemic response speed, the new public health order calls for continental collaboration to bolster African manufacturing capacity for vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics. It has been said that this new approach to issues of public health in the continent requires more predictable and long-term funding. Recently, the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) estimated that the starting budget for the programme could be E300 million (US$20 million). However, Africa CDC made it clear that tens of billions of US dollars would be needed to train nurses, physicians, epidemiologists, and other health care workers.

decision

In a brief interview, Dr. Vusi Magagula, the Director of Health Services in the Ministry of Health in Eswatini, said: “It’s a good political decision but what’s stopping Africa from doing so? Africa’s vaccination rate is about six per cent and Eswatini is at 24.7 per cent and what’s delaying us from having the vaccine manufacturing plants in Africa.” Meanwhile, Africa CDC had pointed out that continental manufacturing of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics would also require up-front investments in infrastructure, materials, and staff.

The call for the new public health order for Africa and health security was made stronger and understandable this week during the three-day virtual International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA 2021). Over 140 African policymakers, scientists, public health experts, data experts, and civil society representatives presented the latest learnings and research from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the actions needed to better guard against current and future health crises.

The conference, hosted by the AU and Africa CDC), also featured heads of state and government leaders, and it attracted over 10 000 participants. Africa CDC is a public health agency of the African Union (AU) established to support the public health initiatives of member states and strengthen the capacity of their health institutions to deal with disease threats. Dr. John Nkengasong, the Director of Africa CDC, said the continent needed people-centred health systems that were inclusive. He said equity started by regionalising health systems so that when a crisis hits, regions have the capacity and ability to respond.

He said COVID-19 was a tragedy whose lessons were too significant to ignore. “If we take those lessons learned and translate them into a new public health order, we can lessen the effects of future pandemics on our lives and livelihoods,” he said. As of November 3, 2021, there were 8.5 million confirmed cases and over 218 000 COVID-19 fatalities across the continent. It is said that the pandemic has overwhelmed health systems, taking scarce resources away from fending off concurrent epidemics and managing an already high disease burden.

burden

Dr. Nkengasong said such a burden was related to factors that included rapid population growth; infectious and non-communicable diseases; high maternal morbidity; and environmental, climatic, and ecological changes. Africa is fighting these battles with about three million health care workers, representing three doctors per 10 000 people, compared with nearly 30 for the Americas and more than 40 for Europe. It was mentioned during the conference that Africans should unite and strengthen public health institutions for people-centred care; expand the public health workforce; establish respectful, action-oriented partnerships and engage with the private sector. The Africa CDC director said: “Maybe the Ebola outbreak of 2014 to 2016 was a call to action that something bigger was to come. And maybe COVID-19 is the signal that something even bigger will come. So, we must be prepared and take our health security destiny into our own hands.”

He said it could mean the continent had to fight the next pandemic in a way unparalleled to the way it was fighting COVID-19. “I am very convinced that we will do that given the mobilisation, commitment and investments that are currently going on,” he said. Other speakers felt that regional solutions were needed to get Africa through the next pandemic as COVID-19 has created a historic opportunity to build the new public health order that could effectively guard against future health crises. It was said that the new public health order for Africa would guarantee health security and benefits for the continent. There are five core areas for the continent’s mid-to-longer term health security.

Strong regional institutions - To guide priorities, coordinate policies and programmes, and drive standard-setting and disease surveillance; Local production of vaccines -Therapeutics, and diagnostics to drive down procurement costs and increase response speed; Investment in the public health workforce and leadership programmes; Strong, high-level partnerships, including between donors and governments and the public and private sectors and with public health institutions; and a greater role for regional organisations in pandemic governance, by decentralising institutions and through regional representatives in key agencies to ensure that the specificities and needs of each region are considered in the planning of central mechanisms such as surveillance systems.

During the opening ceremony, speakers reflected on the impact of COVID-19 in Africa over the past two years and lessons learnt. “The inaugural Conference on Public Health in Africa is happening at an important time in history,” said Chairperson of the AU Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat.

effects

Mahamat is the former prime minister of Chad. He added: “The African continent has not been spared the devastating effects of COVID-19, pushing our health systems to the limits. But, we have great hopes for the future, and a historic opportunity to build a new public health order that can effectively guard against future health crises. This conference is at the first step in making this a reality. ” Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda and AU Champion for Domestic Health Financing, said there was a need for renewed commitments by governments and national parliaments to increase domestic financing for health in Africa.
President Kagame said the increase in domestic financing for health has been a priority of the African Union for several years. He was concerned that progress has not been fast enough.

“We cannot continue to rely on external funding for something so important to our future,” said the president. He said the continent needed to invest much more in national health systems. The president said the ability to implement critical health programmes, including regular mass vaccination campaigns, depended on the quality of national health services and the trust the public had in them.