The European Union (EU) will provide an additional 400 million euros for the development of anti-covid-19 vaccines and diagnostic mechanisms in Africa, while also contributing 427 million euros to fight future pandemics worldwide.
According to Lusa, the announcement was made this Thursday by the European Commission, which in a statement said it "intends to increase funding to accelerate the development and delivery of vaccines and other anti-covid-19 tools in Africa, with additional support of 400 million euros.
On the day that the head of the EU executive, Ursula von der Leyen, participated in a global summit on covid-19, held virtually and co-hosted by the United States of America and featuring Senegal, which chairs the African Union, Brussels also announces "a contribution of 427 million euros to the Global Pandemic Preparedness Fund to support efforts to prevent and better respond to future pandemics" in the world.
Last February, the European Commission said it wanted "an Africa ready to face not only covid-19" but also other diseases, announcing financial aid of 125 million euros to African countries for vaccination, in addition to the 100 million previously promised.
On Thursday, in announcing the increased funding, Ursula von der Leyen stressed that "the supply of vaccines must go hand in hand with rapid delivery, especially in Africa.
"The priority today is to make sure that every available dose is administered. And because we know that the best response to any potential future health crisis is prevention, we are also stepping up support to strengthen health systems and preparedness capacities," Ursula von der Leyen said.
The financial support for Africa released today, under the Team Europe program, is divided into 300 million euros to support immunization in Africa through Covax facilities and other partners, and 100 million euros for access to diagnostics, therapeutics and strengthening health systems.
427 million for the Global Pandemic Preparedness Fund, which will mobilize funds for pandemic preparedness and response to prevent the health and socio-economic impact of covid-19 in the future.
The EU and its member states are among the largest donors of anticovid-19 vaccines to low- and middle-income countries.
Data from Brussels shows that by May 3 last year, EU countries had shared in total more than 470 million doses of covid-19 vaccines, of which more than 366 million had already been delivered to recipients.
Also by that date, the global covid-19 vaccine access mechanism, Covax, had delivered 1.436 billion doses to 145 countries.
And in total, the EU exported 2.2 billion doses to partner countries.
In terms of financial aid, the EU and its member states have already mobilized more than €1 billion for development of vaccines and other anti-covid-19 tools in low- and low-income countries.