The World Health Organization (WHO) has today, 10 September 2020, at it first high- level meeting of the Facilitation Council of the “Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator” (ACT-A), elected South Africa and the Kingdom of Norway to co-chair the newly established Council.
President Ramaphosa accepted the co-chairship on behalf of South Africa and described it as an honour bestowed upon the country.
ACT-A was launched on 24 April 2020 and provided with political and financial support through global pledging events of 4 May and 27 June. It has already established a dynamic portfolio of vaccine candidates, launched a global facility to optimise vaccine development and use, and begun rollout of the first proven therapy for severe disease.
ACT-A is an international collaboration among a diverse representation of global leaders and partners to accelerate the development, production and equitable deployment of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics for COVID-19.
This collaboration has also identified a potentially game-changing rapid test and established a framework for equitable allocation of these products globally.
The Facilitation Council, which adopted its Terms of Reference today, will work to address ACT-A challenges and galvanise global leadership to enable for access to COVID-19 tools for all countries.
"As South Africa and on behalf of the African Union, we look forward to this cooperation and working with all states and partners to achieve our collective objectives to defeat COVID-19," said President Ramaphosa.
Media enquiries: Tyrone Seale, Acting Spokesperson to President Cyril Ramaphosa at media@presidency.gov.za
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