Today, in Berlin, at the joint working session dedicated to global health, attended by the Ministers for Development and Health of the G7 countries, including Minister for Health Speranza, Deputy Minister Marina Sereni said that “Italy was one of the first countries to support the creation of a multilateral tool to respond to the pandemic by establishing the ACT Accelerator, and also contributed to definition of the target of immunising 70% of the global population by mid-2022 during the Italian Presidency of the G20 in 2021”.
Sereni continued by saying that “Italy has provided financial support for this tool and made over 69 million doses of the vaccine available to the Covax Facility, the vaccine pillar. A further 31 million doses will be added over the next few months. It is now crucial to ensure that they are administered rapidly and increase the take-up rates”.
She went on to say “global challenges like Covid-19 require a coordinated, multilateral approach, especially for prevention purposes. But all of this has a cost. Secure, sustainable financing is therefore essential for the effective strategic planning to prepare for other possible pandemic emergencies. This is why Italy recently committed 20 million euros to CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) to support the research and development of efficient resources and strategies against the outbreak of pandemics”.
The Deputy Minister also said “meanwhile, it is also important to relaunch the fight against transmittable diseases, especially HIV, TB and malaria. Besides Covid, there is also the instability caused by the war in Ukraine resulting in a sharp increase in the price of food and energy which will hit various global communities that are vulnerable to these three diseases. The seventh replenishment of the Global Fund in the second half of the year will mark an important step in relaunching this fight”.
