African and European civil society organizations (CSOs) call on leaders in advance of the African Union (AU) – European Union (EU) Summit on February 17-18, 2022, to show solidarity in ending not only the COVID-19 crisis but also responding to global epidemics including HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria and put in place mechanisms and resources to build resilience and prepare for future pandemics. It’s time for strong and sustained political will, collective alignment, and integrated end-to-end approaches. We call on leaders to adopt the following actions at the Summit:

1. Tackle the crisis of inequitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, and support vaccination programs
2. Address the crisis of inequitable access to COVID-19 tools, including tests, treatments, oxygen, and PPE
3. Invest in and strengthen the research and development (R&D) capacity in Africa
4. Support Africa’s mRNA Technology Transfer Hub and agree to waive intellectual property (IP) for COVID-19 vaccines and other medical tools
5. Support health systems strengthening in African countries to enable prevention, detection and response to new and existing threats
6. Reform and strengthen multilateralism

Humanity deserves a world where every country is equipped to end the COVID-19 crisis and every country is prepared to stop infectious disease outbreaks from becoming deadly and costly pandemics. 

Read the full letter.

Organizations are welcome to sign on to the letter by Feb. 17, 2022. If your organization would like to sign on, please reach out to Aminata Wurie.