Kinshasa, April 13th, 2021 (CPA) – The President of the Republic, Felix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo and current President of the African Union (AU), pleaded for an adequate policy in Africa through a new order of public health for its economic security, during a summit by videoconference, under the theme: « the expansion of vaccine production capacities on the African continent ».
According to the Head of State, this is an order that requires, at AU level, rigorous coordination and cooperation and made up of strong and strengthened continental and national institutions.
President Felix Tshisekedi thus called for the creation and strengthening of national public health institutes in each AU member country.
He also advocated for a strong public health workforce and leadership that not only protect health but also social, economic and well-being progress, for an approach based on collaboration and solidarity and a strong partnership, as well as for a local manufacturing capacity of pharmaceuticals and vaccines.
President Felix Antoine Tshisekedi specified that the African continent imports more than 80% of the vaccines used to date and nearly 41 million of the tests carried out with an overall positivity rate of 10% with 37 countries having reported the presence of variants.
For the Head of State Felix Tshisekedi, the African continent is paying the heavy price linked to communicable and non-communicable diseases, in a context of a weak and not very resilient health system, which has serious repercussions on health and safety economy of the continent.
“Infectious diseases cause a loss of productivity of more than 800 million USD per year. Among these diseases, we can cite malaria, AIDS, Ebola virus, tuberculosis and COVID-19 which negatively impact the lives of Africans « , the Head of State added.
During this summit, the aim was to reflect on an issue that will involve politicians, AU executives, business leaders, foundations and manufacturers of pharmaceutical products with a view to arriving at a roadmap for the effective expansion of African capacity to produce vaccines. ACP /
