The Constituency for Africa (CFA), in partnership with the Africa Trade Desk in Ottawa, will be organizing a public forum with the Africa Centres for Disease Control in Addis Ababa to discuss Africa’s strategy for vaccinating the continent.
The forum will take place on Monday, April 19th from 10 am to 12 pm EST.
The keynote speaker for the forum will be Dr John Nkengasong, the Director of Africa CDC, the public health agency of the African Union. Dr Nkengasong will be outlining the Africa CDC’s strategies for addressing COVID-19 in Africa, and what Africa is doing to vaccinate the 800 million people living on the continent.
Dr Nkengasong will also be discussing how the United States and Canada, and other countries around the world can best assist Africa in addressing this daunting challenge. He will especially focus on the role and responsibilities of the African Diaspora, the Sixth Region, in addressing COVID-19 and other health challenges in Africa.
CFA President Melvin Foote believes this is a critical time for Africa in the global battle against COVID-19. “We are now seeing the numbers of COVID-19 cases explode in various parts of Africa, at a time when western countries, are focusing solely on populations in their own countries, and even limiting vaccine shipments to Africa,” Foote said. “We certainly need to hear directly from the Africa CDC as to the strategies being developed on the continent to build a full response!”