Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El Sisi attended on Sunday a dialogue session under the theme of “Towards flexible and sustainable health systems in Africa”.
The session is part of the 1st Africa Health ExCon, the biggest medical exhibition and conference on the continent, that kicked off earlier in the day at Al Manara International Conference Center in New Cairo.
The session is run by Higher Education Minister and acting health minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar.
Head of the Egyptian Drug Authority Tamer Mohamed Essam, acting director of Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Ahmed Ogwell Ouma and WHO Assistant Director-General for Drug Access, Vaccines and Pharmaceuticals Mariangela Simao are taking part in the session.
Mariangela Simao, WHO Assistant Director-General for Drug Access, Vaccines and Pharmaceuticals, praised the pioneering efforts exerted by Egypt in the manufacturing of vaccines and drugs.
Together with five other African countries, Egypt can transfer vaccine industry technologies to other countries, she added.
The coronavirus pandemic showed the need of diversifying health capabilities of countries, she said.
Ahmed Ouma, Deputy Director at the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), said the coronavirus pandemic taught us two lessons that whenever there is a big problem worldwide Africa stands alone and that when Africans join hands good things happen.
In 2020, heads of state, including President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, met to discuss ways of fighting the pandemic and it became clear the need to enhance African bodies at continental level, he said.