Lagos State NMA Secretary, Dr. Imeh Okon, receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine recently in Lagos.
Speaking on the theme “COVID-19 in the African Region”, Tajudeen said that the African CDC was working to ensure equitable and affordable access to COVID-19 vaccines by African countries. He pointed out that COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the need for a new public health order and increased investment in the National Health Institute of each member state of the African Union.
“It is also time we begin to think of renewed partnership that will synchronise global health in the spirit of global solidarity to ensure effective response to global pandemic,” he said. Also speaking, Dr Abdulaziz Mohammed, the Head of Disease Control and Prevention, Africa CDC, said that as of 2017, India produced 94 per cent of its pharmaceutical needs.
He said that the Africa CDC Regional Collaborating Centres and Regional Integrated Surveillance and Laboratory Network was also established to bring public health assets together in a functional network.“The network is also accelerating regional disease detection and response through innovative data and experience sharing platforms.