Inequitable Global Health Responses Underscore Need for More Self-Sufficiency in Developing Countries

A medical officer preparing to give a COVID-19 vaccine in Somalia in May 2021. Credit: Mokhtar Mohamed/AMISOMBy Juliet MorrisonUNITED NATIONS, Sep 8 2022 (IPS) With the outbreak of Monkeypox in non-endemic countries leading to a scramble for vaccines, global health advocates are again calling for equity to be prioritized in the international response. Equity was a top concern during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic emergency health response. The World Health Organization (WHO) helped spearhead several initiatives in an attempt to reduce disparities between nations, notably COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator. Yet, despite these efforts, figures from Our World in Data show that only one in seven people are fully vaccinated in low-income countries. In contrast, almost three in four people have been fully vaccinated for a year in high-income countries. Fatima Hassan, human rights lawyer and founder of South African-based civil society group Health Justice Initiative, sees the current disparity in Monkeypox vaccine access as the latest example of the Global South, and Africa especially, being disadvantaged in the global health space. “We still as Africa don’t have any supplies of monkeypox vaccines, even though as a continent, we’ve been dealing with this disease for a number of years. So on one level, now that it’s become a Global North problem, the vaccines have been found for them, but not for us.̶...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Africa COVID-19 Editors' Choice Featured Headlines Health Humanitarian Emergencies Inequity TerraViva United Nations IPS UN Bureau IPS UN Bureau Report South Africa Source Type: news