BY MENGISTEAB TESHOME
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the world economic order and it can be one of the gravest challenges that countries have encountered.
Africa, like other regions, is reeling from the pandemic’s economic and social consequences as the global economic downturn is undercutting every sector of Africa’s economy.
As studies indicate, growth is expected to turn negative for the first time in almost 50 years, threatening the hard-won development gains of past decades. An additional 43 million Africans might be pushed into poverty.
Taking the harshness and the consequence of the pandemic, the African Union has also emphasized that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic “is not just a severe health emergency, it is also a grave economic and social crisis.”
As to the report of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the African continent is escalating from time to time alarmingly.
The Center’s COVID-19 dashboard showed that the number of COVID-19-inflicted deaths in Africa has heightened over one hundred thousand.
South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Ethiopia are the country’s worst affected by COVID-19 in Africa in terms of the number of confirmed cases, as this same source stated.
While South Africa has reported the highest COVID-19-inflicted deaths in Africa, Egypt and Morocco recorded the second and third most deaths.
Recently, China has decided to provide vaccine aid to African countries including Ethiopia, to make COVID-19 vaccines a global public good.
While COVID-19 is still rampaging globally, vaccines are the focus of international cooperation for the next stage.
China is willing to work together with the international community to strengthen cooperation in vaccines, make vaccines public goods that are accessible and affordable to people in all countries, and make them truly become a people’s vaccine.
At the request of the WHO, China decided to provide 10 million doses of domestic vaccines to the COVAX to meet the urgent needs of developing countries.
On top of that, China has so far provided vaccine assistance to 53 developing countries that have made requests, and has exported vaccines to 22 countries.
“China is committed to building a China-Africa community of health for all. China will continue to work with Africa to fully deliver on the outcomes of the FOCAC Beijing Summit and the Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity Against COVID-19, with greater focus on public health, economic reopening and improvement of livelihoods.” said Zhao Lijian, the Spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
China and Ethiopia are close partners both in times of weal and woe. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the two sisterly countries have been supporting each other.
China has donated medical supplies and sent its health practitioners to help Ethiopia fight against the virus. And the vaccine aid will be another tangible action to augment Ethiopian government’s effort to thwart the onslaught of the pandemic.
It should be emphasized that China has never pursued any geopolitical goals in its international cooperation on the COVID-19 vaccine, never calculated any economic benefits, and never attached any political strings.
And the Chinese government always considers vaccine safety and efficacy as the top priority. China will continue to work with all parties to address the vaccine deficit, contribute to a global community of health for all, in a bid to win the final victory in the global fight against the pandemic.
Expanding its vaccine assistance in Africa, China has said that it will send COVID-19 vaccines to Algeria and Ethiopia.
As China’s public broadcaster CGTN reported refereeing to the phone calls China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi have had with foreign ministers of Algeria and Ethiopia last week, his country is ready to provide vaccines for Ethiopia and Algeria to support their fight against COVID-19,
Speaking to Demeke Mekonnen, Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang was quoted as saying China expects Addis Ababa “to play a more profound role in the regional and international affairs.”
He added that China will provide COVID-19 vaccines and funds to Ethiopia to assist the fight against the pandemic and economic recovery afterward.
China is going to provide emergency food assistance to Tigray State as an effort to help the region return to normal life, the Chinese foreign minister said.
Our world faces a common enemy: COVID-19. The virus does not care about nationality or ethnicity, faction or faith. It attacks all, relentlessly.
Truly, as António Guterres, the Secretary-General of UN stated, our world faces a common enemy and countries of the world are at war with a virus. Thus, to contain the spread of the virus, save lives and recover from the hard hit of the pandemic, accelerated global action, solidarity and collaboration among countries around the world is critical,
The Ethiopian Herald February 25/2021
