Aggrey-Fraser-Guggisberg Memorial Lectures/Special Congregation

Date: 
Friday, March 18, 2022 - 16:00
Venue: 
Great Hall

 

Aggrey-Fraser-Guggisberg Memorial Lectures/Special Congregation

 

Speaker: Dr. John Nkengasong (Director: Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention)

Theme: Fighting the COVID-19 Pandemic: Africa at a Crossroad?

 

Date: Friday, March 18, 2022

Time: 4:00 pm

Venue: Great Hall

Please join the programme online by clicking the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3gWM8xaaAA

 

Chairperson: Justice Sophia A.B. Akuffo (Rtd.), Council Chair

 

Abstract

The unprecedented but predictable Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating human, economic, and security impact across the world. Two years after the pandemic, over six (6) million people have died because of the virus. Today, there is increasing optimism in several developed countries that life can begin to return to normal and many restrictions are being lifted. In light of this optimism, one wonders, from an African perspective, if “the glass is half full or half empty”. How did we get to a polarized outcome of the Covid-19 pandemic between the haves and have-nots? To gain insights into the polarized Covid-19 world, we must carefully examine the doctrine of fighting a pandemic by fully understanding its five Ps: 1. pathogen, 2. population, 3. policy, 4. politics and 5. partnership.

Pathogen

Early characterization of the causative agent of an outbreak is very critical. The pathogen that caused the Covid-19 pandemic was fully characterized by sequencing within 4 weeks of the outbreak. This development paved the way for countries to begin developing diagnostics, therapeutic and vaccines. However, no country in Africa developed any of the medical countermeasures thus creating dependency. This scenario became the Achilles Heels of the continent’s ability to fight the pandemic on the continent.

Population

Investing in understanding population behavior is so critical in fighting a pandemic. In fact, as the outbreak progressed, populations initially cooperated in varying degrees in implementing public health and social measures including wearing of masks and hand hygiene. However, it was difficult to adhere to these measures for long and “the pandemic fatigue “ set in. When vaccines became available, misinformation campaigns created hesitancy resulting in severe setbacks in the uptake of vaccines.

Policy

To be meaningful, policies must be contextualized. Various policies and guidance were developed by the WHO and Africa CDC. In fact, the AU/Africa CDC developed over 50 policy guidance adapted in the continental context. A joint continental strategy was developed and endorsed by member states - a unique occurrence in the fight against infectious diseases threat on the continent. These contextualized policies were instrumental in guiding countries’ responses.

Politics

In pandemic response, good politics matter and bad politics is crippling. Perhaps the greatest factor influencing the Covid-19 pandemic response was the politics. The Covid-19 pandemic revealed huge geopolitical tensions in the world. We saw WHO caught up in the politics, with crippling effects, of the origin of the virus from China and the Western world. Similarly, Public Health England, the U.S. CDC and other institutions were crippled by politics. We observed the limit of multilateralism, especially when it came to sharing diagnostic tools, vaccines, and personal protective equipment. The world agreed to share vaccines before they were available, but when they became available, refused to share. This led to great inequalities to access and resulted in a polarized world with the haves and don’t-haves. In Africa, the power of regionalism prevailed and several response initiatives including AVATT, ASMP…etc were created.

Partnership

Effective, action-oriented respectful partnerships are vital in times of pandemic. In Africa, critical partnerships were developed between the Afriexim bank, the United Nation Economic Commission for Africa, private sector personalities such as Strive Masiyiwa. The bank, for example, made available over $2 billion to support the AVAT process. Partnership with the panabio created the trusted travel tools and vaccines platform.

Africa, as a continent, finds itself at a crossroad and is challenged to embrace a new public health order that will ensure its health security sovereignty. This will require that the continent focus on the manufacturing of medical countermeasures, strengthen workforce, enhance institutions, increase domestic financial investment, and focus on respectful action-oriented partnership. These measures will enable the continent to guarantee its health sovereignty and better prepare for the next pandemic.

 

 

Profile of Dr John Nkengasong

Dr. John Nkengasong currently serves as Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, a specialized technical institution of the African Union. He has previously served as Acting Deputy Principal Director of the Center for Global Health and Chief of the International Laboratory Branch, Division of Global HIV and TB for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In early 2020, he was appointed as one of the WHO Director-General’s Special Envoys on COVID-19 Preparedness and Response. In addition, Dr. Nkengasong was most recently awarded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s 2020 Global Goalkeeper Award for his contributions to the continental response in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa. In 2021, he was named by the Times Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world; Fortunate Magazine ranked him the 4th of 50 greatest world leader; and Bloomberg Business Magazine ranked him among the 50 world’s leaders. Dr. Nkengasong holds a master’s degree in tropical biomedical science from the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium, and a doctorate in medical sciences (virology), from the University of Brussels, Belgium.

Dr. Nkengasong has received numerous awards for his work including Sheppard Award, the William Watson Medal of Excellence, the highest recognition awarded by the US CDC. He is also recipient of the Knight of Honour Medal by the Government of Cote d’Ivoire, was knighted in 2017 as the Officer of Loin by the President of Senegal, H.E. Macky Sall, and Knighted in November 2018 by the government of Cameroon for his significant contributions to public health. He is an adjunct professor at the Emory School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA. He has authored/co-authored over 260 scientific peer-review articles in major journals including Science, Nature, Nature Medicine, Lancet and Cell.