Progress report African region 21 - DG Message

Many people ask me: when will the pandemic end? My answer is that the pandemic will end when the world chooses to end it.

We have all the tools we need: we can prevent COVID-19, we can test for it, and we can treat it. Yet cases and deaths from COVID-19 continue to climb. In Africa, deaths increased by 80% in the second quarter of 2021, driven largely by the inconsistent use of public health and social measures, inequitable vaccination, limited capacities to manage severe cases, and more transmissible variants.

The shocking inequity in access to vaccines has hit Africa hardest. Through COVAX and in collaboration with the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT), WHO will continue to do everything we can to rapidly increase the supply of vaccines to Africa, including by establishing a technology transfer hub for mRNA vaccines in South Africa.

But we must also ensure that Africa is never again at the mercy of inequitable supply chains that depend on imports of life-saving products. I have long been an advocate for scaling up the production of medicines and vaccines in Africa, a priority that has become more important than ever.

In response to the surge of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, WHO has launched the Rapid ACT-Accelerator Delta Response, or RADAR, issuing an urgent call for US$ 7.7 billion for tests, treatments and vaccines. In parallel, we asked for additional financing for COVAX to purchase vaccines for 2022. This investment is a small fraction of the amount governments are spending to deal with COVID-19.

This report shows how WHO is working with governments and partners in Africa to save lives and stop the spread of this virus.

Working in real time, we are backstopping national efforts to resume full services for other priorities such as HIV, malaria and the rising burden of noncommunicable diseases. Our aim is to rebuild better systems.

This pandemic is a global threat, and the only way we can overcome it is by working across borders and regions so that “no one is safe unless we are all safe” becomes not just a slogan, but a concrete reality.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
WHO Director-General