The Saving Lives and Livelihoods initiative will acquire
vaccines for at least 50 million people, support the delivery of vaccinations
to millions more across the continent, lay the groundwork for vaccine
manufacturing in Africa through a focus on human capital development, and
strengthen the Africa CDC.
“Ensuring equitable access and delivery of vaccines across
Africa is urgent. This initiative is about valuing all lives and accelerating
the economic recovery of the continent,” said Reeta Roy, President and CEO of
the Mastercard Foundation. “In the process, this initiative will catalyze work
opportunities in the health sector and beyond as part of our Young Africa Works
strategy,” she added.
The African Union’s goal as set out in the African COVID-19
Vaccine Development and Access Strategy is to vaccinate at least 60 percent of
its population – approximately 750 million people or the entire adult
population of the continent – by the end of 2022. To date, less than two
percent of Africans have received at least one vaccine dose.
The new partnership builds on the efforts of the COVID-19
Vaccines Global Access facility (COVAX), the COVID-19 African Vaccine
Acquisition Task Team (AVATT), and the global community to expand access to
vaccines across Africa. The number of vaccines available to Africa represents a
small portion of the global supply and the financial costs to purchase,
deliver, and administer vaccines remain significant. The Africa CDC is calling
on governments, global funders, the private sector, and others to help meet
this goal.
“Ensuring inclusivity in vaccine access, and building
Africa’s capacity to manufacture its own vaccines, is not just good for the
continent, it’s the only sustainable path out of the pandemic and into a
health-secure future,” said Dr. John Nkengasong, Director of the Africa CDC.
“This partnership with the Mastercard Foundation is a bold step towards
establishing a New Public Health Order for Africa, and we welcome other actors
to join this historic journey.”
In 2020, Africa faced its first economic recession in 25
years due to the pandemic. The African Development Bank has warned that
COVID-19 could reverse hard-won gains in poverty reduction over the past two
decades and drive 39 million people into extreme poverty in 2021. Widespread
vaccination is recognized as being critical to the economic recovery of African
countries.
The initiative builds on an earlier collaboration between
the Mastercard Foundation and the Africa CDC to expand access to testing kits
and enhance surveillance capacity in Africa. Through the Foundation’s support,
the Africa CDC’s Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing (PACT) deployed
nearly two million COVID-19 tests and more than 12,000 trained health care
workers and rapid responders across Africa. In total, the PACT has enabled over
47 million COVID-19 tests across the continent.