By Ahmed Rahma
On Tuesday, December 15, 2020, an initiative to strengthen the health systems on the continent of Africa would be launched at an event titled Strengthening Africa’s Health Security: Lesson Learned from COVID.
This scheme is the product of the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) and would be termed the US-Africa Health Security and Resilience Initiative.
It was disclosed that the two-year programme will bring together the major US and African leaders, corporations, multilateral organisations, foundations and other stakeholders in order to create strategic partnerships, provide critical Africa health-related information, and facilitate trade and investment.
The initiative, which is similar to what CCA undertook on HIV/AIDs more than a decade ago, is expected to establish a high-level private-sector task force and will focus on three key areas which have been identified as critical pillars for strengthening African health security and building resilience: Disease response and management preparedness; Universal Health Coverage implementation in Africa and Africa health sector trade and investment.
The event will include keynote remarks by Director of the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention at the African Union, Dr John Nkengasong; Board Chair of Gavi the Vaccine Alliance and Africa’s leading candidate for the director-generalship of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; and Caroline Roan, President of The Pfizer Foundation and Vice President of Global Health and Patient Access at Pfizer Inc, Caroline Roan.
CCA is a leading US business association focused solely on connecting business interests in Africa. It has a broad membership that includes large multinational corporations as well as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), both the US and Africa.
The panel will include distinguished experts from both the private and public sector and will be moderated by Dr Jeffrey L. Sturchio CEO of Rabin Martin and Board Chair of CCA.
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