On Monday 5 February, the European Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, and the Belgian Minister for Development Cooperation, Caroline Gennez, began a three-day mission (from 5 to 7 February) to Addis Ababa, the headquarters of the African Union, to consolidate the EU/African Union partnership on health, within the framework of the EU/AU strategic partnership, the EU global health strategy and the EU ‘Global Gateway’ investment strategy.
They are accompanied by senior officials from 8 countries - Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands and Spain.
This mission is being organised by the Belgian Presidency of the Council and the EU delegation to the African Union, ahead of the AU-EU dialogue on health scheduled for March in Brussels.
The Belgian Presidency has made global health and the EU/Africa health partnership a top priority in its relations with Africa (see EUROPE 13335/3, 13321/2), in line with the AU/EU summit in February 2022 and European investment in the local production of messenger RNA vaccines in Africa (see EUROPE 13317/2, 13269/2).
“We are working with you to ensure equity medical counter-measures in Africa, for Africa”, said Stella Kyriakides at the opening of the keynote address, stressing the “importance of multilateralism” to enable the WHO “to establish better international rules for global health”.
Caroline Gennez, for her part, said she was “particularly interested to know how African countries see the Global Fund and GAVI” (the Vaccine Alliance created by Bill Gates) and the future on this subject.
Talks are scheduled with Minata Samaté Cessouma, the AU Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development, and Jean Kaseya, the Director General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), which was set up during the Covid-19 crisis.
Discussions will be held on investments under the ‘Team Europe’ initiative [the EU, its Member States and its financial institutions - ed.]: on the manufacture of and access to messenger RNA vaccines, medicines and health technologies in Africa (MAV+ initiative), the strengthening of the technical and basic capacities of Africa CDCs through the ‘One Health’ approach advocated by the WHO. There will also be a focus on extending sequencing-based surveillance and strengthening the capacity of the public health laboratory network to detect and respond to epidemics.
The backdrop is the global Accord on pandemics, currently being negotiated at the WHO (along with the corollary amendments to the 2005 International Health Regulations) and due to be concluded at the 77th World Health Assembly in May 2024, although international negotiations in Geneva are struggling (see EUROPE 13305/20). “An extraordinary ministerial technical coordination meeting” between the EU and the AU will be held alongside this World Assembly to “consider a common position”, said Minata Samaté Cessouma. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)