Sharing technology and supporting innovation is not just about equity. It´s also the best way to stop pandemics
Inequity has plagued the responses to harmful pathogens. Take Covid-19: an unprecedented 11.9 billion vaccine doses have been administered worldwide, helping many countries turn the tide on the pandemic. Yet more than 80% of people in
Thanks to groundbreaking innovation, effective vaccines were developed in record time to protect against Covid-19. However, at the outset of the vaccination drive, a concentration of vaccine and other health technology production was seen in a few, mostly rich, countries. Poorer nations ended up at the back of the queue. The situation has since changed, with global supply exceeding global demand. The international community, led through the ACT-Accelerator and its COVAX facility, have played a crucial role to this end, confirming the response to scourges like COVID-19 requires ample preparedness and new ways of working in order to protect public health.
The acute stage of the Covid19 pandemic will persist worldwide until investment in equity is valued over profits.
Now, the central challenges are how to ensure vaccines remain effective, boost the capacities of national public health systems to administer doses and increase vaccine uptake, and counter the pervasive winds of misinformation that fan vaccine hesitancy.
An obvious lesson of this pandemic is that we must expand the local and regional production of vaccines and other essential health products in low and middle-income countries. This will allow for both direct access to vaccines, as well as the development of local ecosystems of vaccine production. It will make supply in the event of the next crisis more reliable and more equitable, as long as global supply chains are not interrupted.
The
WHO is supporting a multilateral effort to create and spread mRNA technology in developing countries.
One year ago,
With donor support, the hub is already producing results. Scientists have designed a new mRNA vaccine based on publicly available information. Local manufacturers from
Parts of the private sector are also stepping up. The recent groundbreaking ceremony in
A wide array of diseases can be tackled by new technologies, dispersed around the world.
The mRNA technology is not just for fighting COVID-19. It can be adapted to tackle other diseases, like HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and leishmaniasis, putting countries in the driver's seat to produce the tools required to meet their health needs.
At a recent summit in
Building vaccine production facilities are hard, but ensuring their sustainability is even harder.
Required: training, strong regulations, partnerships, combatting mis-information and sharing.
First, there is the need to strengthen workforce capacity by providing dedicated training for staff working at these facilities.
Second, producing health products requires strong regulatory capacities to ensure quality standards and approve final products.
Stronger regulatory agencies in developing countries will also enhance confidence in locally produced products and counter misinformation and the availability of unsafe counterfeit medicines.
Third, new production facilities will rely heavily on a sustainable, and competitive, market environment where suppliers of vaccines and other new pharmaceutical products will be ready to purchase these life-saving tools. We recognize the need for current and future African vaccine producing countries to access vaccines procurement platforms, such as GAVI, among others. Market-shaping strategies at regional and continental level, as outlined by the
At the recent
Global agreements and funding are essential to confront the 'not if but when' next pandemic.
And critically, Governments recognized that additional funding is urgently needed for making essential investments in pandemic preparedness and response capacities in countries, regions and globally. In this regard, we welcome the newly established
We know the next outbreak is a question of when, not if. Time is of the essence to intensify collaboration and boost local manufacturing and build confidence in locally-made products, so that we are better prepared next time.
[1] On
Copyright allAfrica.com. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com)., source