Remarks by Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa
Good day, bonjour, bom dia to all the journalists joining us today for this first press conference of the year and a very happy new year to you all.
Our discussion today will focus on the latest COVID-19 trends in the region as the fourth year of the pandemic gets underway.
I’m delighted and hope to soon be joined by Dr Wilhelmina Jallah, the Honourable Minister of Health of Liberia – a country that rapidly scaled up its COVID-19 vaccination coverage; and by Professor Tulio de Oliveira of the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation at Stellenbosch University in South Africa and also the Director of the KwaZulu Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform, who has played a leadership role in building genome sequencing capacity on the continent. A very warm welcome to you both.
We are beginning 2023 on a positive note. In the first three weeks of the year, Africa has recorded around 21 000 COVID-19 cases. This is a 97% decline compared with the same period last year even if we are seeing increases in South Africa, Tunisia and Zambia. This is the first month of January that is not marked by a post-festive season surge in cases since the pandemic began.
Of course, testing is low too, but most importantly hospitalizations for severe-COVID-19 have reduced markedly and weekly deaths have dropped by 99% from the level reached in the first three weeks of January 2022.
With the evolving pandemic trajectory, we are hopeful that the continent is transitioning from “the emergency response mode” to living with the virus as a new normal. In fact, that is what we are doing on the continent now. But, despite the low number of cases, countries must maintain the capacity to rapidly detect any upsurge at the local level and immediately scale up their response at the first sign of an unusually high number of cases.
Investments in the COVID-19 fight over the last four years have yielded successful results that will stay even beyond the pandemic. The region is better able to cope with the virus, and its health emergency response systems have been bolstered. In addition, capacity for intensive care will benefit other health problems.
For this, I’d like to thank our Members States and partners for working with us day and night to protect the people’s lives.
This success is only complete with our connections to communities. We’ve seen the centrality of community in this pandemic, with the involvement of community-based organizations as trusted messengers and communicators, working to anchor grassroots across any given level, and ensuring that health centres and community clinics continue to provide the most appropriate quality of care.
But variants continue to circulate, and a resurgence is still possible. Botswana and South Africa have detected the XBB.1.5 Omicron sub-variant, one of the sub-lineages with public health implications. So far this year, almost 1900 sequences have been carried out compared with 7625 in January 2022. Sequencing is crucial to keeping track of variants and helping mount a timely and effective detection and response. The capacity WHO and partners have helped countries build in genome sequencing is now being used to detect other diseases such as Ebola and tuberculosis.
Timely data and the investment it took to create real-time information for public health has been invaluable to us and a critical part of our success in reaching vulnerable populations.
We want to ensure long-lasting investments in improving access beyond the pandemic. Whether it is COVID-19, influenza, or cholera, having timely data and the health ecosystem ready because of the COVID-19 investments will be a key strategy for Africa.
On COVID-19 vaccination over the past year, African countries stepped up efforts to broaden coverage through campaigns and other initiatives. To date almost 30% of the continent’s population has completed the primary series of vaccination, as of 23 January 2023, up from 7% at the same time in 2022.
Vaccination among high-risk populations has had some progress, with 41% of health workers fully vaccinated in 28 reporting countries and 38% or almost 40% of older adults in 23 countries. But there is a need to reach higher coverage in the most vulnerable groups and of course, they need to get their booster doses too.
To ensure we continue to expand coverage, in addition to vaccination campaigns, it’s important to integrate COVID-19 vaccines into routine services. We must ensure that the most vulnerable can still access the vaccines when they are part of these routine services.
And as I speak, 12 African countries have started this, and we are working on expanding this group.
Political determination to address future inequity has led to a movement to produce vaccines on the continent; this is a very important outcome of the pandemic.
Similarly, we’ve embarked on the path toward an international instrument for future pandemic preparedness that aims to strengthen health emergency preparedness, response and resilience by addressing gaps in health emergency governance, functional systems and financial mechanisms. The principles of equity, inclusivity and coherence will be at the centre of the new instrument.
COVID-19 response cannot sustainably exist in isolation from other health services. So, integrated, people-centred health services focusing on equity, including on gender and on community engagement, remain a priority for our region.
The pandemic is not yet over. COVID-19 variants continue to circulate, which means that the pandemic can take an unexpected turn. We must not lower our guard. And by ensuring adequate vaccination, especially of high-risk populations, as well as capitalizing on the advancements made in pandemic control over the past four years, we can effectively tackle any upticks and surges.
While the threat from COVID-19 is decreasing, we are growing more concerned over for example, cholera which is now affecting ten countries in Africa. The increasing number of countries experiencing cholera outbreaks is putting extreme pressure on limited global supplies of cholera vaccines. So, we need to continue with our fight overall to address the broad range of health threats.
Thank you once again for joining us, and I look forward to our conversation on these important health issues in our region. And again, a warm welcome to Professor Tulio and Minister Jallah.