APA – Lusaka (Zambia) – The Africa CDC and the Mastercard Foundation have entered a new phase of their partnership on the Saving Lives and Livelihoods initiative in the aftermath of WHO’s declaration of the end of COVID-19 pandemic as a public health emergency of international concern.
The statement released Wednesday said the Saving Lives and Livelihoods initiative, a bold and unprecedented $1.5 billion partnership, was launched in June 2021. This innovative and ground-breaking partnership aimed to purchase COVID-19 vaccines, roll out vaccinations, build the vaccine manufacturing workforce for the continent, and strengthen the Africa CDC to ensure long-term health security for Africa.
Unprecedented in scale, speed and inclusion of African organisations, the partnership, according to the report, has contributed to the continent’s current vaccination rate of 53 per cent of the target population, up from just 3 per cent at the start of the initiative.
It said the partnership has also trained, equipped, and deployed 38,000 health workers, creating a robust frontline in safeguarding public health locally. It has provided job opportunities for 23,000 individuals and integrated over 600 COVID-19 vaccination centres into healthcare systems. Additionally, this initiative led to the expansion of genomic testing capabilities from seven to 40 laboratories across the continent.
Commenting on the move, Dr. Jean Kaseya, Director General of the Africa CDC said the Saving Lives and Livelihoods initiative with the Mastercard Foundation has shown the power of respectful and action-oriented partnerships rooted in collaboration, coordination and systems strengthening.
“The experience and learnings from Phase I will enable us to move with greater speed and scale to deliver with accelerated impact to our member states,” Dr Kaseya said.
It is expected that the second phase of partnership will expand its scope and scale, focusing on completing the vaccination of healthcare workers and vulnerable groups, building a robust workforce of community health workers.
Among other purposes is to ensure pandemic preparedness by bolstering national public health institutions, laboratory capacities, data access and quality, local manufacturing of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, and continuing strengthening of Africa CDC, according to the same source.
Reeta Roy, President, and CEO of the Mastercard Foundation pointed out that the need to continue investing in our health systems, build our workforce and prepare for future pandemics remains urgent.
“This partnership will ensure that we have strong health institutions and systems. We aim to enable thousands of young people to build their careers in healthcare and contribute to improving lives in Africa,” said Reeta.
The Saving Lives and Livelihoods initiative stands out as a testament to the power of African-led health solutions, it said.
CU/as/APA
Africa CDC, Mastercard Foundation in new partnership
