Wangethi Mwangi, the chairman of the Kusi Ideas Festival Secretariat, has attributed Africa’s delay in producing COVID 19 vaccines to what he describes as selfishness by the countries on the continent.
As at October 2021, Africa had fully vaccinated just over 6% of its population according to the World Health Organization.
Speaking to Nana Yaa Mensah on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Monday(13 December) Mwangi says African countries are unwilling to help each other for a single country to achieve the status of a vaccine production hub.
“We have a lot of scientists , a lot of brains around Africa, South Africa is teaming with epidemiologist, people who can do this genome sequencing , we have them in Botswana , Kenya , Uganda.”
“The problem that stands in the way of that kind of effort is simply one, selfishness , everybody wants to be the acclaimed owner of that initiative , so like Kenya would like o be the one recognised as the centre of vaccine production in Africa , or Uganda Botswana , Uganda or South Africa.”
“And yet there is every reason for us to come together and discard all this inward sort of looking mentality and agree to set up a manufacturing plant in any one country but then helps the entire continent and that can be done under the guidance of the AU or AfCFTA or whichever organisation , so that is the will that is lacking.”
Africa’s healthcare system unsustainable and weak
Meanwhile Dr Sylvia Vito, head of Africa Acceleration at AstraZeneca, says the healthcare system in Africa is unsustainable and weak.
Dr Vito said the poor state of health care in many African countries is another red flag to medical professionals.
Speaking during the third edition of Kusi Ideas Festival in Accra on Friday (10 December), Dr Vito said, “COVID has exposed how we didn’t invest in the right systems; we didn’t invest in our health for tomorrow and I think it’s not only the role of government it is the role of all of us as Africans to be vested in strengthening the primary health care systems is,” she added.
According to her, if there is one area that vividly sums up Africa’s developmental challenges, it is the field of health.
She urged the media to use its voice and hold everyone accountable for doing the right things through what they communicate and put out there to help describe the narrative of how the structure of Africa’s healthcare is.
Dr Vito said, “As we are speaking, we are still at the backend developing other forms of vaccines and treatments, as scientists; we are working hard to make sure to give you the best.’’
She added that the majority of Africans, mostly the poor and those in the middle-income bracket, rely on under-funded public health facilities while a small minority has access to a well-funded, quality private health care system.
Challenges
“We have to recognise the efforts done by governments. It’s been tough and the challenges we have faced a year later have exposed the vulnerability of the continent as unable to control its own destiny. We can still do better,” Dr Vito said.
AstraZeneca has managed to offer two-thirds of vaccines to third world countries, with 45 million doses distributed to Africa. The rest of the Mehta vaccines include those from Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and others.
“We started out well, but with the Indian ban on vaccine exports, the vaccination campaign not just in Africa but the rest of the developing world slowed down. However, in the last two months, we have delivered 17.5 million vaccines across Africa,” she said.
