Stop Blocking the Scale-up of Vaccines and Put Health over Profit!

On the occasion of World Health Day, WFPHA has joined a broad coalition of civil society organisations across Europe urgently calling on governments and EU institutions to implement a COVID-19 response based on global solidarity and to act to ensure that COVID-19 vaccines and medical products are available to everyone, everywhere in the world by waiving intellectual property rights (IPR) and sharing know-how and technology widely.

“We must act now so the pandemic will not go into history as a moral failure by rich countries at the detriment of vulnerable lives across the world.”

Equity: COVID-19 Vaccines as a Global Public Good?

The outstanding scientific achievement of 2020 was the rapid development of safe and effective vaccines against COVID-19. 2021’s challenge is to produce sufficient doses and immunize a planet of nearly 8 billion people. The global rollout has been called a “catastrophic moral failure” by WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus for its glaring inequities, as rich countries snap up supply and poorer nations are forced to wait at the back of the queue.

This fifth and final instalment of Operation Vaccination focuses on equity in the global vaccination race. The post includes discussions about hoarding doses and vaccine nationalism, the role of COVAX in striving for a level playing field, the TRIPS waiver proposal to temporarily suspend intellectual property rights to improve manufacturing capacity, and the risks to all of us if current trends continue and the imbalance of access to COVID vaccines is not redressed.

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WHO’s Response to WFPHA and SHEM Open Letter on Inequitable Access to COVID-19 Vaccines

“Equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines is forefront in my mind.”

On 3 March 2021, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, has responded the World Federation of Public Health Associations and the Sustainable Health Equity Movement’s (SHEM) open letter on inequitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.

Public Health Answers: Digital Technology and the COVID-19 Pandemic

In this episode of Public Health Answers, we talk to Audrey Tang, Digital Minister, Taiwan, to know how we can prevent infodemic and how using digital technology to protect population against the COVID-19 pandemic fits into democracy.

Click on the link below to watch the video on our YouTube. Let us know what you think and what questions you would like to ask public health experts. Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below the video.

Now Is the Time for Effective Collaboration!

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed systemic frailties and shortcomings throughout health systems worldwide. Recently, the crisis surpassed a devastating milestone, with over 2.3 million people having died from COVID-19. Many countries are still not following the evidence. Information sharing is needed to inform best practices and help countries reorient their public health strategies. Our responsibility as public health professionals and scientists is to share knowledge and channel the decision-making at political, clinical, managerial, and scientific levels as follows the evidence. When exchanges fail, countries make the same mistakes again and again. The struggle against COVID-19 will not be overcome unless we work together on a larger scale. We must bring all countries to their best performance and make cross-national collaboration a reality.

In the face of one of the greatest global challenges, the public health workforce has emerged empowered to fight their own war against widespread misinformation and inequity. As the pandemic worsens across many regions of the world, it is critical that this public health movement is not only sustained but also strengthened to coordinate a concerted response to tackle COVID-19. For these reasons, the World Federation of Public Health Associations, the Alliance of Public Health Associations of the Americas, the European Public Health Association, the African Federation of Public Health Associations, and the Asia Pacific Regional Liaison Office call on regional societies and national public health associations to re-emphasize their commitment to collaboration and to continue strengthening global partnerships. Knowledge from other countries must be readily accessible so that it can be taken advantage of to the fullest extent. By ensuring that each nation adopts the highest standards of public health practice, we will be able to come together and beat this pandemic. Without this discourse, we fear that many countries will lack the knowledge and resources needed to overcome the pandemic.

In this effort, WFPHA and the regional health associations are committed to creating new forums and opportunities for cross-national discussion. Moreover, online platforms can be consolidated to centralize and organize important pieces of information. Different regions have context-specific and cultural factors that influence decision-making; it is critical that the associations appreciate these differences and offer support to these countries as they respond to COVID-19.

Now is the time for effective collaboration. By inspiring unity amongst the public health associations, we can ensure that the regions most affected by the pandemic are equipped to develop appropriate policies and interventions.

WFPHA Has Joined the WHO’s Campaign for #VaccinEquity

Health workers have been at the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic response.

In January 2021, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) has called all countries to work together in solidarity to start vaccination of health workers and those people at highest risk of COVID-19 in the first 100 days of the year.

WFPHA has joined WHO’s call on global, national and local leaders to accelerate the equitable rollout of vaccines in all country.

“We must come together to protect and invest in the people who protect us all, no matter where they live.”