In Geneva, Dr. Aceng calls on countries to move from ‘just talking to visible actions’

Geneva| Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero, the head of Uganda’s delegation to the 77th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, has urged nations to go beyond talking and take visible action.

Dr. Aceng, Uganda’s Minister of Health, stated that countries must adapt to visible actions that have a significant impact on small and vulnerable nations.

“Efforts should also be made to support mechanisms for real-time data collection via digitised field management information systems and community information systems to improve planning and real-time actions.”

The minister, who also serves as the Lira City woman Member of Parliament, emphasised the importance of mutual collaboration and strong partnerships in developing resilient systems in small and vulnerable states.

Dr. Aceng also emphasised the importance of a comprehensive government response to mitigating the impact of climate-related disasters. The minister would later attend a Ministerial Briefing on the African Union’s Roadmap to 2030 and Beyond.

The roadmap focuses on sustaining the AIDS response while also strengthening systems and ensuring health security for Africa’s development.

She urged the development of capacity for research and development in our own countries, saying that technological transfer is necessary for local productions, whether they are for therapeutics or vaccines.

“It also requires resources and it requires the capacity of our scientists not only at individual level but a good number of scientists.

As a result, the minister noted that these capacities must be developed over time. “In the interim, what we need is technology transfer directly to our scientists so that they can also develop their capacity to do the work,” she said.

Dr. Aceng stated that if this is rejected in the pandemic treaty, it means that we cannot have local production in Africa without transferring technology developed in high-developed countries.

“The critical areas where there is contention are the most critical components. One is sustainable finance. We know that donor funding is not sustainable financing, domestic funding is sustainable financing and some of those are the things that we have been discussing.

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“Whatever fund has been set aside or response to outbreaks, emerging and reemerging infections so that it is easily accessible to African countries without segregation, without conditions that cannot be met.”

Second, she believed that critical public health tools should be easily accessible. “Many of you will recall that it took us months to obtain the vaccines and other therapeutics that we required.

“What we are emphasising here is that access must be made simple and real-time, but also that access must be supported so that capacity can be built within our local environment, which brings us to the issue of local manufacturing for the items we require in Uganda.”