Durban — Minister of Health Dr Joe Phaahla has called on experts and industry leaders to ensure that future medical countermeasures (MCMs) platforms deliver life-saving tools to the right people at the right time and place.
South Africa and Norway, in association with the World Health Organization (WHO), are hosting a two-day high-level technical meeting on MCMs in Gauteng that began on Thursday.
Delegates regard MCMs as medicines and medical supplies that can be used to diagnose, prevent and treat diseases, such as vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics.
The discussion centred on an assessment of the needs relevant to the establishment of a future MCMs platform and an end-to-end medical countermeasure ecosystem. It also focused on co-ordinated delivery support for vulnerable countries and humanitarian settings and financing.
Phaahla said achieving this means protecting lives and livelihoods, advancing economies, and securing world peace and health security.
“The stakes are high, but we are confident that this initiative is in the world’s most capable and expert hands. The meeting of the world’s best minds in medical countermeasures and pandemic management excites me. There is no doubt that this will be a fascinating and highly fruitful meeting,” said Phaahla.
He mentioned the Facilitation Council for the Access to Covid-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, the first global pandemic response platform that raised about $24 billion in less than two years. He said the platform deployed almost 1.9 billion doses of vaccines globally, of which more than 70% went to low-income countries. Moreover, it delivered 164 million tests, and provided treatments and oxygen supplies during the peak of the deadly pandemic.
Phaahla said he believes that ACT-Accelerator should remain in place until a permanent global countermeasure mechanism is in place within a broader system for global pandemic preparedness and response.
WHO regional director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, said she hopes that industry leaders will use the tough lessons of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic to inform suggestions on how to deal with future outbreaks.
“Africa was seriously affected by Covid-19 and is often the last continent to benefit from countermeasures,” said Moeti.
Special adviser to President Cyril Ramaphosa, Professor Olive Shisana, said the pandemic was a significant challenge for the international community.
She acknowledged that the pandemic highlighted inequalities in access to health care, which ultimately cost more lives.
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