The African Union (AU) has put in efforts to adopt a multinational approach to procure Covid1-9 vaccines. Through agencies such as AUDA-NEPAD and the Africa Centre for Disease Control, the bloc has engaged the COVAX facility and also created African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) to secure drugs. However, according to Vincent Biruta, Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the continent needs global collaboration to respond effectively to the pandemic challenges, especially the new Covid variants. Rwanda is the current Chair of the AUDA-NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee at the multilateralism and global governance session in G20 foreign affairs ministers meeting, June 29, Matera, Italy. “The AU is working with member states to increase the quantity and quality of domestic health financing with technical support from AUDA-NEPAD,” he stated. “G20 is well positioned to work with Africa in support of a more equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines through different mechanisms including facilitation of the vaccine production on the continent.” Acknowledging the role played by G20 in mobilizing global institutions to support debt suspension service initiative on low-income countries as they fight the pandemic in the wake of economic hardships, Biruta said, it’s not a feasible solution to tackle the crisis as it only defers the debt burden to later years. Contrary, he observed the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s Special Drawing Rights—reserve assets accessed by poor countries became a sustainable option for financing the fight against Covid-19 and economic recovery in Africa. In an interconnected world, if we do not address common global threats with a multilateral approach, no one will win. The Foreign Affairs Ministerial Meeting also reiterated the importance of supporting Africa in fighting inequality, enhancing the entrepreneurship of women and youth, and fostering the green and digital transitions. The first joint meeting ended with the adoption of Matera Declaration which entails 10 commitments made by the G20 member countries to boost food security, nutrition and food systems. Based on the current trend, the number of people affected by hunger would exceed 840 million by 2030. However, the G20 say, these figures do not take into account the Covid-19 toll, which is to add more than 100 million people to the total number of undernourished in the world, as people lost their jobs and income, with consequences on their food security. This, they pointed out, defies the ‘zero hunger goal under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 agenda.
