The year is ending but the world continues to grapple with COVID-19. China is currently battling a devastating wave of the disease that some predict could leave more than 1 million people dead — though the official death toll is still less than 10.
The situation in China poses questions whether WHO can truly declare the end of the global health emergency in 2023, something that WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed hope for just last week.
But it also raises an important question: How ready is the world to tackle the next global health threat?
• Several initiatives have been put in place over the past two years to prepare the world for the next pandemic. There’s the mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub in South Africa, and the Pandemic Fund. But both these initiatives have yet to reach their full potential.
• The hub may now have a formula for a COVID-19 vaccine, but that shot still needs to undergo clinical trials. So in the event of a COVID-19 surge or another pandemic happening, it won’t be able to contribute any vaccine supplies in the short term, says Petro Terblanche, managing director of Afrigen, which leads the hub.
• The Pandemic Fund, meanwhile, has only received pledges amounting to $1.6 billion, and only about $420 million of that has been handed over by donors. That’s significantly below the $10.5 billion that WHO and the World Bank estimate are needed annually for pandemic preparedness and response.
• And there are other challenges. Hospitals face staffing shortages as health workers quit due to burnout and low pay. Disinformation and distrust of public health authorities, as well as vaccine hesitancy also persist.
• To prevent the next outbreak from becoming a pandemic, there’s also a need for “laser-focused” surveillance systems, and clear obligations for governments and WHO on what they need to do if a new threat emerges. There are hopes this will be addressed through reforms to the International Health Regulations — but that isn’t expected to be taken up by WHO member states until May 2024.
• A zero draft of a potential pandemic accord — which many hope would address the inequities seen in the distribution of lifesaving health products such as COVID-19 vaccines — will now be discussed in February. Dr. Githinji Gitahi, CEO of Amref Health Africa, doesn’t doubt that “Africa would still wait for months or years to get its people vaccinated” if another respiratory emergency emerges in the new year.
• Helen Clark, former co-chair of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, doesn’t have high hopes either. “In the event that the worst happens, and a new pathogen erupts, the world is not better prepared in terms of systems and rules to coordinate a response to it than it was in 2019,” she tells me via email.
As we wrap up 2022, we’d love to hear from you on your favorite Devex CheckUp story of the year, and what we should absolutely cover in 2023. Send us an email via checkup@devex.com.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is one of global health’s biggest funders. In May, Devex data expert Miguel Antonio Tamonan found that the foundation has awarded nearly 7,000 grants for the sector from 1998 to April 2022, amounting to a massive $24.2 billion.
That was our most-read Pro health story in 2022. Check it out, along with our other top Pro stories for the year that you may have missed the first time around.
1. Gates Foundation’s top 10 health grant winners
2. What we know so far about USAID’s $17B NextGen contracts
3. Wellcome announces $22B funding strategy
4. ‘The vision is to transform global health security’
5. The insects are coming. But the world is unprepared
Bumps in the road
Before he left the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to lead the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, Dr. John Nkengasong laid out a path for Africa to establish what he calls the “New Public Health Order,” which would change the way the continent delivers health care. Last week in Kigali, my colleague Sara Jerving attended the second annual International Conference on Public Health in Africa where participants took stock of both the progress made toward achieving Nkengasong’s plan and the work that’s left to do — which includes strengthening African health and medical institutions, building up the continent’s manufacturing capabilities, and preventing health worker brain drain.
But not everything is going smoothly.
Dr. Ebere Okereke, honorary senior public health adviser at Africa CDC, for example, tells Sara that the agency has not been accepted as an implementer of the new Pandemic Fund. This, she says, hampers Africa CDC’s ability to serve as a voice of influence on behalf of the continent around funding for pandemic response and preparedness.
During a keynote speech at a symposium in Geneva last week, Karim expressed concerns about emerging evidence of the long-term impact of COVID-19. Studies have shown that those who have had COVID-19 are at increased risk of heart disease and diabetes, and one longitudinal U.K. study also found an association with a shrinking of the brain, which affects people’s ability to complete complex tasks, he said.
We’ll be reporting more on “long COVID” in 2023. Watch this space for my piece in the next CheckUp edition in January.
We’re taking a break until then — wishing you a healthy holiday break.
One big number: 30
That’s the total number of countries that have reported cholera outbreaks in 2022, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Over the past five years, fewer than 20 countries, on average, reported outbreaks. IFRC states that, so far, 11 countries have requested more than 61 million doses of oral cholera vaccine, but only 26 million doses have been delivered.
Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines.
