COVID-19 shattered trust between Africa and the wealthy countries that hoarded vaccines. So what will it take to rebuild that trust? Acknowledgment would be a good start, said the World Health Organization’s Dr. Ayoade Alakija, who kicked off the first day of Devex’s World Health Assembly discussions with harsh words for those countries and some very personal recollections of Africa’s health system.
“Had COVID started in Africa, it became very clear that the world would’ve locked us away and thrown away the key, because we were clearly considered last in line,” WHO’s special envoy for the ACT-Accelerator said at the InterContinental Hotel on the sidelines of WHA yesterday.
“There’s some serious structural, systemic issues of course that have led to this, and as we begin to talk about trust and the erosion of trust, we must, must, must acknowledge those failures of the past.”
About the author
Anna Gawel
Anna Gawel is the Managing Editor of Devex. She previously worked as the managing editor of The Washington Diplomat, the flagship publication of D.C.’s diplomatic community. She’s had hundreds of articles published on world affairs, U.S. foreign policy, politics, security, trade, travel and the arts on topics ranging from the impact of State Department budget cuts to Caribbean efforts to fight climate change. She was also a broadcast producer and digital editor at WTOP News and host of the Global 360 podcast. She holds a journalism degree from the University of Maryland in College Park.
