Kampala Declaration with 15 signatories from six countries urges for COVID-19 vaccine equity
The World Health Summit Regional Meeting in Uganda ended with clear demands and a powerful message of international collaboration beyond political and geographical borders:
The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, together with the President of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, several ministers from Africa, scientists from six countries and the President of the World Health Summit, Axel R. Pries signed the Kampala Declaration on COVID-19 Vaccine Equity.
The 15 signatories of the declaration urge political leaders, international agencies and organizations, the civil society and industry, to strive for more equity in COVID-19 vaccine production and distribution.
World Health Summit President Prof. Dr. Axel R. Pries calls on Europe to ensure a fair sharing system for vaccines: „It is against international solidarity to secure and use most available vaccine doses on a national level. Besides the humanitarian aspect, it is also very unwise from an epidemiological perspective and harms the geopolitical role of democratic states.”
Main points of the Kampala Declaration:
- Significant disparities are obvious. High-income countries, representing about 20 percent of the global adult population, hold over half of the doses globally available (almost five billion), enough to vaccinate twice their populations. In contrast, the low- and middle-income countries are left behind, not allowing them to adequately protect their inhabitants.
- Vaccine injustice is an existential challenge for global health today. It divides the world between those that have access to vaccines and those who do not. It also increases the risk for the development of more aggressive virus mutations and jet another pandemic wave. There is no time to lose. Fast and effective measures are needed to tackle the present situation and to increase preparedness for the future.
- This crisis reminds us to foster the spirit of collaboration, solidarity and cooperation, instead of practicing vaccine egoism and nationalism. We need to transform Universal Health Coverage to include universal health preparedness, prevention, and universal health solidarity.
Read the Kampala Declaration here.
The World Health Summit Regional Meeting in Uganda from June 27–30 was organized by Makerere University in Kampala and was one of the most important events of its kind in Africa: It brought together experts from around the world and especially many African countries to discuss the core issue COVID-19 and many other topics of great importance for global health and for health in Africa in particular.
