The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the Mastercard Foundation have entered a new phase of their partnership on the Saving Lives and Livelihoods initiative.
This comes at the back of World Health Organisation’s declaration of the end of COVID-19 pandemic as a public health emergency of international concern.
The Saving Lives and Livelihoods initiative, a bold and unprecedented $1.5 billion partnership, was launched in June 2021. This innovative and ground-breaking partnership is aimed at purchasing COVID-19 vaccines, roll out vaccinations and build the vaccine manufacturing workforce for the continent. It is also to strengthen the Africa CDC and to ensure long-term health security for Africa.
Unprecedented in scale, speed and inclusion of African organisations, the partnership has contributed to the continent’s current vaccination rate of 53 per cent of the target population, up from just 3 per cent at the start of the initiative.
The partnership has also trained, equipped and deployed 38,000 health workers, creating a robust frontline in safeguarding public health locally.
It has provided job opportunities for 23,000 individuals and integrated over 600 COVID-19 vaccination centres into healthcare systems.
Additionally, this initiative led to the expansion of genomic testing capabilities from 7 to 40 laboratories across the continent.
The review of Phase 1 of this initiative, among fifteen implementing partners across 29 countries, conducted by Deloitte, indicates that the vast majority of funds disbursed were used effectively and as intended.
Likewise, ongoing monitoring by KPMG, which has confirmed that partners not only showed strength in programmatic results, but also improved the institutional capacity for greater sustainability and institutional resilience.
“Our Saving Lives and Livelihoods initiative with the Mastercard Foundation has shown the power of respectful and action-oriented partnerships rooted in collaboration, coordination and systems strengthening.
“The experience and learning from Phase I will enable us to move with greater speed and scale to deliver with accelerated impact to our member states,” said Dr. Jean Kaseya, Director General of the Africa CDC.
In its second phase, the partnership will expand its scope and scale, focusing on completing the vaccination of healthcare workers and vulnerable groups, building a robust workforce of community health workers, ensuring pandemic preparedness by bolstering national public health institutions, laboratory capacities, data access and quality, local manufacturing of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics.
The President and CEO of the Mastercard Foundation, Reeta Roy, during the launch said -“While the global pandemic may be declared over, the need to continue investing in our health systems, build our workforce and prepare for future pandemics remains urgent.
“This partnership will ensure that we have strong health institutions and systems. We aim to enable thousands of young people to build their careers in healthcare and contribute to improving lives in Africa.
“The Saving Lives and Livelihoods initiative stands out as a testament to the power of African-led health solutions.
“As it progresses to its next phase, partnerships will continue to play a crucial role in shaping a New Public Health Order for Africa. Africa CDC and the Mastercard Foundation remain committed to improving the health and well-being of all Africans.”
