Russia, Africa strategise on cooperation in epidemic control, build human capacity
As part of the Second Russia–Africa Summit and Economic and Humanitarian Forum, Anna Popova, Head of Rospotrebnadzor, held a panel session entitled ‘From Aid to Partnership: Working Together to Fight Epidemics’.
The following participants joined the discussion: Jane Ruth Aceng, Minister of Health of the Republic of Uganda; Sylvie Nzeyimana, Minister of Public Health and the Fight Against AIDS of the Republic of Burundi; Nicaise Ndembi, Senior Advisor, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention; Igor Borisevich, Deputy Head, Federal Medical-Biological Agency of the Russian Federation; Vladimir Kutyrev, Director, Russian Anti-Plague Scientific Research Institute “Microbe”; Alexander Semyonov, Director, Scientific Research Institute of Viral Infections “Virome”; and Vasily Akimkin, Director, Central Research Institute of Epidemiology.
Opening the meeting, the Head of Rospotrebnadzor noted that Russia and Africa successfully cooperate in epidemic prevention and actively implement joint projects to prevent and combat infections.
“Cooperation between Russia and Africa has a long history and is capable of moving from assistance to partnership between countries, which will help the continent to gain sovereignty in the field of biological security, strengthen its own potential and remove obstacles to economic development caused by infections,” Anna Popova said.
The main topics of the session included planning and conducting joint research, test and vaccine development, training, and laboratory infrastructure development in the partner countries.
The session participants discussed, among other things, how to ensure the independence of African countries from external assistance in biosecurity, as well as the possibilities of transition from importing anti-epidemic technologies to their development by African countries.
During the session, Jane Ruth Aceng, Minister of Health of the Republic of Uganda, emphasised that the partnership will help to promote cooperation in epidemic control, build human capacity, and ensure technology transfer.
For his part, Nicaise Ndembi, Senior Advisor, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, noted that only proactive action on the continent will successfully tackle the epidemics.
Concluding the panel discussion, the Head of Rospotrebnadzor invited the participants to work on holding a similar event to combat epidemics in Africa.
At the end of the session, the parties noted the need to deepen cooperation in ensuring sanitary and epidemiological well-being of the population, responding to infectious threats, developing human resources and laboratory infrastructure.
The Second Russia–Africa Summit and Economic and Humanitarian Forum was organized by Roscongress Foundation.
BY TIMES REPORTER
