Action plan to drive equitable expansion of immunisation in Africa

The African Union Commission (AUC), Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance last week concluded a three-day forum to outline a pathway towards extensive collaboration in alignment of the tripartite Memorandum of Understanding signed between the organisations in May 2023.

Through the MoU, the three organizations commit to increase access and accelerate the uptake of life-saving vaccines across African Union member states, by leveraging their collective resources, expertise and expansive networks to collaboratively address a broad range of health issues.

Senior leadership from all three organisations as well as technical experts, contributed to the action-oriented sessions, which were aligned across the following cross-cutting issues:

• Fostering sustainable and equitable systems for immunisation, including reaching zero dose children, overcome barriers, and building a resilient health workforce
• Building public trust and confidence in immunisation, including demand generation and social behavioural change, and aligning immunisation-related communications and advocacy
• Realising the continental vision to expand vaccine manufacturing in Africa, including the facilitation of efficient regulatory pathways and timely authorisations of vaccines and efficient, effective pharmacovigilance
• Strengthening diagnostic and disease surveillance capacity for epidemic-prone vaccine-preventable diseases

In addition to these discussions, the delegations also engaged in preliminary discussions on the design of Gavi’s next five-year strategic period, “Gavi 6.0”, which will run from 2026-2030, as well as ways to align on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response activities.

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The AUC and Africa CDC delegation was led by Dr Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, Ag. Deputy Director General, Africa CDC. Gavi’s delegation was led by Pascal Barollier, Chief Engagement Officer and Thabani Maphosa, Managing Director, Country Programmes Delivery.

“We have come together to give life to the tripartite MoU and secure the health of the continent of Africa. We have committed to work in synergy and give Africa tangible results for immunisation in the shortest time,” said Dr Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, Ag. Deputy Director General of the Africa CDC.

“The work our organizations undertake is intrinsically linked, and it is critical that we have come together in service of the AUC’s continental vision for public health, the New Public Health Order,” said Thabani Maphosa, Managing Director of Country Programmes Delivery at Gavi.

“This week’s workshop was the time to turn our deep commitment to collaboration into a tangible plan of action. Gavi is proud to be a partner to the African Union Commission and Africa CDC, and we are excited to be expanding this partnership into so many aspects of our work.”