Late Breaker: COVID-19 in the Global South: global and regional dimensions of pandemic responses

Friday 12 November, 12:40 - 13:40 CET

We organize a late breaker session bringing the much needed global perspective on vaccine progress and challenges in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Inequitable access continues to experience a surge in infections and will make it difficult to end the pandemic. There was an urgent warning from WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying that “no one is safe until everyone is safe”. The direct and indirect effect of the pandemic in the Global South, such as disruptions to the delivery and use of routine services,  will also be discussed. Panel members will also share crucial insights into the role of the pharmaceutical companies and possible government strategies to improve better access.

Speakers

Catherine Joachim, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Tanzania. Dr Joachim will bring insight into vaccination progress, health system and other challenges that were faced by Tanzania with regards to the COVID-19 pandemic 

Ashish Srivastava, Monitoring, evaluation and research advisor, Jhpiego, Delhi, India. Dr Srivastava will discuss the impact of the pandemic on the implementation of health programmes in general and indirect effects for maternal  and child health outcomes in particular (5-7 min)

Adriana Tami,  Clinical epidemiologist of infectious and tropical diseases, University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), Groningen, The Netherlands and Universidad de Carabobo (UC), Valencia, Venezuela. Dr Tami will bring the perspective of Latin America and in particular the situation of the impact of the pandemic on Venezuela as a country (and health system) in crisis 

Wilbert Bannenberg, Chair of the Pharmaceutical Accountability Foundation, Netherlands. Dr Bannenberg will bring in the global perspective on vaccine equity and the role of the pharmaceutical companies (5-7 min)

Elena Petelos, Maastricht University, Netherlands and Vice President EUPHA Health technology assessment section . Dr Petelos will bring the latest on the campaign to waive intellectual property protection on coronavirus vaccines 

Dr. Ahmed E. Ogwell Ouma, Deputy Director Africa CDC to give insight into the central role CDC Africa has played in combating the virus and to provide final reflections on this session, including impact and the way ahead.

Chair

Regien Biesma, Global Health Unit, UMCG, the Netherlands