SADC has reaffirmed its commitment to tackling emerging climate change-induced health challenges and strengthening collective regional response mechanisms.
Last week, the SADC Ministers of Health attended an Extraordinary Meeting on Health to discuss emerging health threats and come up with collective actions to combat them.
The meeting underscored the importance of timely information sharing among member states to curb cross-border disease transmission. It also endorsed several initiatives to bolster regional health security.
Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Dr Jenfan Muswere said the EGM was critical in addressing health challenges facing the region and crafting solutions to strengthen collective responses to these challenges.
"Key highlights of the proceedings and outcomes included the ongoing health emergencies in the SADC region, such as Mpox Outbreak and Marburg Virus Disease. Member States were urged to share information on disease outbreaks timeously in order to effectively address cross-border transmission. The Meeting also endorsed the SADC TB Strategic Plan, the expansion of the E8 Malaria Elimination Initiative to all 16 SADC Member States under the auspices of SADC, a project to accelerate the implementation and investment into the SADC Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Strategy, the feasibility study on the establishment of a Southern Africa Health Organisation and the establishment of the SADC Pooled Procurement Services (SPPS) as an autonomous special purpose vehicle under the principle of subsidiarity," he said.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
In addition, Minister Muswere said member states had been urged to mobilise alternative funding through public-private partnerships and domestic resource mobilisation for critical health programmes, including HIV, TB and malaria prevention, treatment and control.
Addressing questions from journalists, Health and Child Care Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora acknowledged the impact of climate change on disease outbreaks.
"We are prepared and I think this year we have done very well. We managed to respond quickly because we had learned from what had happened in the past. We are also seeing an upsurge in other diseases like the Mpox and Marburg virus which has spread to quite a number of countries, more than what it used to be like. And we think actually it's because of climate change that these viruses are beginning to spread beyond the borders where they never used to spread. This is why we had this meeting, together with other countries in SADC, so that we come together," he said.
