By Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme

Below are some highlights from the presentation:

Relaxing measures prematurely has contributed to the surge we have seen through 2020 and the first quarter to 2021. Maintaining strong public health and social measures in every community and thoughtfully adjusting them based on local epidemiology and capacities is absolutely critical for epidemic and pandemic control of COVID-19 for the weeks and months ahead. Ultimately, it is in communities, at the frontline, where epidemic and pandemic prevention and control begins and ends. Communities, health workers, facilities facing COVID-19 must be informed, engaged, trained, equipped, protected and supported.

Operationally, WHO works with a huge range of partners but is always ready to be the first mover, and the provider of last resort.

On critical supplies, I would like to recognize our partners in the UN supply chain taskforce. We collectively delivered an overwhelming $1.2 billion worth of supplies to 184 countries in 2020, representing over 50% of the stated demands of low and middle-income countries during that period. I am deeply proud of the partners who work so hard to make sure we could fix the broken supply chain.

At present, a funding shortfall of more than 70% when only received funds are considered has left the Organization in real and imminent danger of being unable to sustain core functions for urgent priorities. The challenges faced by WHO in responding rapidly to acute events are exacerbated by the fact that over 90% of funds received so far are specified or earmarked. We must move forward to improve preparedness, preventing emerging risks, increase readiness, be ready to detect and respond, be able to scale and contain small outbreaks quickly, and be in a position to bring pandemics under control earlier, not only to protect health and life but to protect our economies and our ways of life.

Link to COVID-19 Pandemic Response presentation, video and speaking notes:
https://who.canto.global/b/MCBH7

ACT-Accelerator: Progress and Priorities

By Dr Bruce Aylward, Senior Advisor to the Director-General and Head of the ACT-Accelerator Coordination Hub

Below are some highlights from the presentation:

The ACT Accelerator has helped to fundamentally improve our ability to tackle COVID-19 globally. 12 months ago, we only had non pharmaceutical interventions along with PCR testing.

Today, vaccines can prevent COVID-19 everywhere, tests can rapidly and accurately detect COVID-19 anywhere, and guide our response, and treatments can save lives through the simple combination of oxygen and steroids. All due to the new knowledge we've been able to generate over the past year.

COVAX works, the machine works, the facility works. The challenge is getting the vaccines into the facility through the cooperation and support of countries and companies, to be able to address what we are seeing now, an increasing inequity in distribution.

83% of the 1.6 billion distributed Vaccine doses have been used in high and upper middle income countries, which are about 50% of the global population. The difference to low income countries is more than 75 fold.

High income countries are currently testing at about 125 times more tests per day than low income countries, in large part because low income countries have not been able to procure at the same rate nor roll them out at the same rate, with the same volumes.

If you can't see the virus, you can't manage your outbreak, and you cannot understand the gravity of the situation, until it's too late, and you're then faced with catastrophic consequences.

We have an oxygen need of about 3.3 million cylinders per day for low and low middle income countries, and we are currently only at a fraction of that.

There are 3 parts to solving the challenge of equitable access and this is the focus of the ACT Accelerator over the coming 12 months:

First close the financing gap.

The second crucial thing is to address the growing equity gap and share vaccine doses through COVAX. Even with financing alone, we cannot access doses because they are contracted elsewhere. We need at least a quarter of a billion vaccine doses over the next four months and to double that to get two doses into the population & protect the most vulnerable, save the lives of the older people who may be affected by this and reduce exposure of course of health care workers.

We need these doses to start immediately in May and June, if we get behind and receive doses only in September & October, we will not be able to catch up & we will lose many lives that we shouldn't be losing.

Thirdly, we must fully integrate and finance the SPRP. This is going to be crucial as we move from development of products to delivery.

Exiting the pandemic requires multiple lines of defense: the vaccines, diagnostics, treatments and PPE. There is no one piece, you cannot simply vaccinate your way out of the crisis we've got to have all pieces.

We are in a fundamentally different place than we were 12 months ago, there is no reason with the coordination and financing we lay out here, we should not be able to fundamentally change the dynamic direction of this pandemic in the coming months.

Link to ACT-Accelerator presentation and video:

https://who.canto.global/b/SOGCT

About WHO

The World Health Organization provides global leadership in public health within the United Nations system. Founded in 1948, WHO works with 194 Member States, across six regions and from more than 150 offices, to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable. Our goal for 2019-2023 is to ensure that a billion more people have universal health coverage, to protect a billion more people from health emergencies, and provide a further billion people with better health and wellbeing.