DAR ES SALAAM: SOUTHERN African Development Community (SADC) has directed its secretariat to convene an urgent meeting of its Ministers of Health, to assess the impact of Mpox and facilitate coordinated regional response to control the spread of the disease.
The directive for combating the epidemic diseases comes as the result of the SADC’s 44th Ordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government, which was held last Saturday in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Mpox is an illness caused by the monkeypox virus. It is a viral infection which can spread between people, mainly through close contact and occasionally from the environment to people via things and surfaces that have been touched by a person with the virus.
In a communiqué released over the weekend, SADC summit also urged member states to strengthen diseases’ surveillance, diagnosis, testing and clinical care as well as infection prevention and control. More significantly, it urged for awareness raising of the disease at all levels of the community.
According to the communiqué, the regional body’s Heads of State and Governments during the summit expressed their concerns on the Mpox situation in the SADC and continent at large.
“The summit extended solidarity and support to member states affected by Mpox and further requested the World Health Organisation, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other partners to avail resources towards the Mpox response in the region,” read the communiqué.
They specifically cited the declaration by the World Health Organisation (WHO) of Mpox as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHIEC) and the declaration of the disease as a public health emergency of continental security (PHECS) by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, all together demanding for urgent collective measures.
According to the recently WHO’s statistics, so far this year, more than 2,100 laboratory-confirmed cases and 13 deaths have been reported from 12 countries encompassing Burundi, Cameroon Central African Republic, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda compared with 1,145 confirmed cases and seven deaths in the whole of 2023 reported from 11 countries.
In another development, the summit urged member states to continue monitoring weather and climate risks, including the forecasted La Niña event and develop contingency measures to mitigate the impact of disasters.
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In term of development of democracy in the region, the summit commended the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Kingdom of Eswatini and Republics of Madagascar, South Africa and Zimbabwe for successfully holding peaceful elections.
On top of that, the summit hinted on the SADC Electoral Calendar for the remaining part of 2024 including elections in Botswana and Mozambique in October, Namibia in November and Mauritius on a date to be determined and wished the member states successful elections.
During the summit, President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan was elected to serve as the Chairperson of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation. Dr Samia replaced Zambian President Mr Hakainde Hichilema, whose tenure has expired. President Samia will hold the position for one year.
This year SADC’s summit was themed “Promoting Innovation to unlock opportunities for sustained economic growth and development towards an Industrialised SADC,’’ recognising that innovation is a fundamental instrument with significant potential to drive priority sectors of manufacturing, mineral beneficiation as well as enhancing agroprocessing, industrialisation and economic growth as a whole.
Moreover, SADC reiterated its unwavering support to the Republic of Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo in promoting and consolidating peace, security and stability in the two countries.
Meanwhile, the Summit noted the official closure of the SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) and commended Member States for contributing troops, personnel, equipment and other resources towards the successful conclusion of SAMIM.
SADC further commended the SAMIM leadership and all personnel for their sacrifices, dedication and commitment towards peace, stability and security in the Cabo Delgado Province and the region at large and called for the dignified closure of the Mission.
Moreover, the summit took note of entering into force of the Agreement Establishing the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFCA) among the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the East African Community and SADC on July 25th this year, which provides opportunities for SADC member states to tap into an expanded market of 26 countries with a population of about 700 million and a GDP of 1 trillion US dollar (about 2.6 Qa/-).
Additionally, it adopted and signed the SADC Declaration on the Protection of Persons with Albinism, signifying the collective resolve of SADC Member States to take necessary measures at the regional and national levels to address the challenges faced by Persons with Albinism.
